Sleeping Beauty?
by knittingeek
Summary: Chapter 25, More reflections on their wedding day. Total fluff.
1. Chapter 1

_**Just a random little fluffy piece for all of you "Fluffsters" out there. Another sleepy theme ;)**_

_**I don't own the characters.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

Castle was sitting on the couch in the break room eating pretzels from the vending machine. His feet were up on the table in front of him. Kate came in and sat down beside him and put her feet up beside his, and reached into the bag and took out a handful and started nibbling on them.

"This is turning into the never ending case from Hell. I'm so tired I can't even see straight."

"I think this is the most food we've eaten all day, too. Did the guys leave?"

In between bites she answered "Yeah, road trip to pick up a suspect."

They sat in silence for a few minutes just eating the pretzels.

"Are you ready to go?"

She laid her head on the back of the couch and let out a sigh. "Yeah."

He chuckled and said, "You know if we don't get up and leave now, we might fall asleep here on this couch and you know Ryan and Esposito will find us here in the morning and it will be all over the precinct that we slept together."

She looked over at him and smiled and shook her head and rolled her eyes at him. He stood up and reached a hand out to her, she looked up at him hesitantly and accepted his hand and he pulled her up, letting go of it as he walked toward the door. They stopped at her desk and he grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair and helped her into it. She pulled her bag out of the bottom drawer and slung it over her shoulder. They walked towards the elevator together and once inside she leaned her head back.

When they were outside he hailed a cab and she slid in beside him, resting her head on the back of the seat, but before long it ended up on his shoulder and she was asleep before the cab pulled up to her apartment.

He whispered into her ear, "Kate?"

He got no response. He tried a little louder "Hey, Sleeping Beauty?"

This time he got a very groggy, "Yeah?"

"You need to get out of the cab."

"Sleeping Beauty has to be kissed in order to wake up."

"Yeah, well I've been told it's probably not in my best interest to kiss girls who carry guns."

"Good point, Castle."

"We're at your apartment."

"Hmmmm"

He leaned over her and very lightly kissed her on the lips. Her eyes barely fluttered and she said, "Castle?"

Yes, Kate?"

"Did you just kiss me?"

"Yes. Yes I did"

"Ummm, OK, I thought I was dreaming."

He chuckled. "Do you dream of me often?"

"Hmmmm, maybe."

He smiled, he was enjoying this. "Kate?"

"Yeah?"

"We're at your apartment; you need to get out of the cab."

He reached into his wallet and paid the cabbie and then reached for Kate's hands and pulled gently on her, she slowly climbed out of the cab and he leaned her up against him and got her to start walking with him. His arm was firmly around her waist and hers was rather loosely around his, her head resting in the crook of his arm. Somehow he managed to get her into her elevator and upstairs. When they got to her door, she leaned up against it, head back, eyes closed.

Kate?"

"Yeah, Castle?"

"Where are your keys?"

"Ummmm, pocket."

He waited for her to hand them to him but when it looked like that wasn't going to happen any time soon he reached over and slid his hand into her jacket pocket, she was awake instantly slapping his hand away. "Nice try, Castle." She put her hand into her pocket and rummaged around and pulled out a set of keys and handed them to him.

He looked at them, there had to be at least a dozen keys on the ring. He tried a few with no luck and through process of elimination he finally opened the door. He took her hand and led her inside. She kicked off her shoes and pulled off her jacket and tossed it on the back of a chair and then went over to the couch and curled up on one end.

Castle shut the door and went over to Kate and hesitated just leaving her there. He knew she would sleep better in her own bed, but he was pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to get her in there.

Kate?"

"Yeah?"

"You'll sleep much better in your own bed."

"OK, I'll go in a minute."

"No, in a minute you will be unconscious, and then you will wake up cranky and sore and I will have to listen to you complain all day tomorrow."

She chuckled. "You think you know me…."

"Here's the plan Sleeping Beauty, you either get up and go into your room on your own or I start undressing you and take you in there myself, and I can't be held responsible for my actions if I have to see you….."

"Castle?" She said as she put her hand out to him.

"Yes?" he replied as he took her hand thinking she needed help getting up but she pulled on his hand until his face was in front of hers and she said "Shut. The. Hell. Up."

He laughed but didn't say anything, he tried to let go of her hand but she held on tight so he pulled her up, she stood up and still holding his hand she led him towards her room and said, "Come on, Prince Charming."

"Where are _we_ going?"

"To bed."

He stopped short. "Ummm, together?"

"Yes, together but not '_together_' together. The guys will be back in just a few hours and we'll have to go back to the precinct, you might as well just stay here and you're about a foot too tall for my couch."

She pulled him along and left him beside the bed as she went into the bathroom and got ready for bed. Still somewhat stunned he removed his clothes except for his t-shirt and boxers and climbed under the covers. She came out wearing a loose t-shirt and a pair of leggings; she climbed under the covers on her side of the bed and turned out the light.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes, Castle actually thought she had fallen asleep, but when he turned to look at her she was lying there with her eyes open, one arm draped across her forehead.

"So, let me get this straight, you want to sleep with me but not _sleep_ with me?"

She let out a sigh. "Yes, Castle that's right."

"So, can I assume that you are not attracted to me?"

She laughed. "Attraction has nothing to do with it."

"Well, actually, yes it usually has a lot to do with it."

She laughed and said "Sex would just make things awkward…..and complicated."

"No, I'm not thinking it would…be either."

"What if it didn't work out?"

"OK, Debbie Downer, what if it did?"

She turned and looked at him and then looked away and said very quietly, "I'm not ready to take that risk yet, Castle."

He started to say something and she put her hand up and said, "No, don't. Please?" He took her hand and laced his fingers through hers and pulled it up to his lips and kissed it and said "OK."

She looked over at him and whispered quietly "Thank you."

He squeezed her hand tight and she let go and rolled over onto her side with her back to him. He scooted over toward her not touching her with his body but left his hand on her waist on top of the covers and she fell asleep.

He lay there for a few minutes contemplating what was said and not said and had a feeling of contentment and understanding that soothed him to sleep.

_**Thanks again for all of you who are reading and re-reading and especially for all the reviews and favorites. It makes me very happy. I have a second chapter started for this, along with a few other stories that have been started but are going nowhere at the moment.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**This is for all of you who asked for "more" so here's a little bit more! **_

_**Characters are not mine.**_

When she woke up the next morning she was facing Castle in bed. She knew before she opened her eyes that he was staring at her. "Castle, are you watching me sleep?"

"No, not really."

She opened one eye and raised an eyebrow at him and said, "Really?"

"I'm actually making sure you don't make any quick moves and pull your gun from under your pillow and shoot me."

She chuckled. "What makes you so sure it's under my pillow?"

"Oh."

"That's all, Castle, just 'Oh'?"

"What can I say Detective, you have rendered me speechless."

"She rolled her eyes at him."

He pulled his hand out from under the covers and moved a stray hair from in front of her face. "You're pretty cute when you just wake up."

"You shouldn't really be here."

"You invited me."

"I know."

"Would you like me to leave?"

She was chewing on the inside of her cheek; she sighed and shook her head slowly and very quietly said, "No."

"You should listen to your heart more often, Kate, It might surprise you." He leaned towards her and placed a light kiss on her forehead and said, "How about some breakfast and then we can see what Ryan and Esposito dragged out of the boonies of Maine on their road trip."

"Yeah, the case…..I wonder why they haven't been in touch?" She reached over for her phone on the nightstand. There was a text from Ryan: 'got the bugger and a confession c u monday' She showed it to Castle, and then opened her phone to call Ryan and Castle placed his hand her arm. "Who are you calling?"

She looked at him. "Excuse me?"

"Do you have any idea what Ryan is doing right now?"

"Uh…no…what?"

He raised his eyebrows, "He hasn't seen Jenny in over a week, use your imagination."

She rolled her eyes at him and decided to try Esposito instead. Castle stopped her again. "He's probably otherwise occupied too."

She looked at him with a confused look on her face. "He's not seeing anyone, what are you talking about?"

"Seriously Kate, where have you been?"

"Who? And how come you know this and I don't?"

"Maybe, I am more observant than you are? Maybe, you've been a little preoccupied lately?"

"You know who he's seeing?"

"Yes. Yes I do."

"Who?"

"OOOH, I know something you don't know and it is going to drive you just a little bit crazy."

She reached over to grab his ear and he quickly moved out of her reach almost falling off of the bed. He grabbed at her arm to stop himself from going over and she started to come with him. He put his leg down on the floor and pushed himself back onto the bed, but she was quicker and was grabbing his ear again.

"Castle, I can hurt you, tell me….NOW."

He slapped her hand away and moved out of her way again. "You have to guess."

"It's someone I know?"

"MMMMMMaybe."

She sat up and raked her hand through her hair and looked at him. "Someone in the precint?"

"Come on Kate, really? You have no clue? When was the last time you had a conversation with your best friend that wasn't work related?"

"Lanie?" She looked at him in shock. "No…no way…..I would definitely know if it was Lanie."

"Think about it, Kate. All those times we went to Remy's or the Pub after a case and he offered to take her home."

"Yeah, but I offer to take you home too, that doesn't mean we're sleeping together."

He looked at her and wiggled his eyebrows at her. "We slept together last night."

She shook her head and placed her face in her hands. How did this happen that her best friend and one of her partners were together and she didn't even know. The reality of the whole situation hit her all at once. She raked her hand through her hair and looked over at Castle. "Maybe I have been a little too preoccupied lately." She lay back down on her pillow, closed her eyes and put her arm across her forehead.

He took her hand in his and pulled her back so she was facing him. It was clearly obvious that she was upset. They stayed that way for a few minutes. He finally said, "Hey, why don't you grab a shower and I'll go make coffee and see if I can scrounge something up for breakfast."

"Castle, you don't have to do that."

"Yeah, I know. But maybe I want to."

"Don't you need to get home to Alexis?"

"Meredith is visiting this weekend so; no I don't need to get home any time soon."

She raised an eyebrow at him, "Gee Castle, you could have got lucky last night."

He smiled at her and said, "Oh, but I did."

She shook her head and laughed and pushed him onto his back and said, "In your dreams Castle. I thought you were going to make breakfast?"

"I'm just making sure you don't need any help in the shower."

She picked up a pillow and smacked him hard with it.

"OOOOOH pillow fight, I haven't had one of these in a loooong time." He grabbed the pillow from her and smacked her with it, she grabbed for another one and he ducked and grabbed it before she could hit him again. He now had all the pillows from the bed and she lunged forward to grab one away from him and landed on top of him with a barrier of three pillows between them.

He wiggled his eyebrows at her and said, "I win."

"You do not win."

In one quick move he rolled her off of him and braced himself over her body, pillows still between them. "Oh, yes I do."

He lowered his face toward hers and she opened her eyes wide and said meekly, "Castle, what are we doing?"

"Well, some might call it fore…." He didn't get to finish though, in one swift move she had tossed him off of her and was out of bed.

He reached for her hand and said, "We're having fun Kate, just having fun. You're allowed to do that once in awhile you know."

She picked up one of the pillows and shot it at him again and said, "Breakfast, Castle, Now!" She sauntered off to the bathroom, raking her hand through her hair, shaking her head and smiling. She closed the bathroom door and leant up against it; wondering to herself just what the heck were they doing? _Having fun. _Yes, she was having fun, listening to her heart and not thinking about being practical, not thinking of how much this would hurt if it didn't work and he wasn't a part of her life. She knew he cared about her, she knew he respected her; she knew she should follow her heart. Easier said than done…..or was it?

_**So, I already know you want more and you want me to go "there", but we'll have to see. I have parts of another chapter written. Thanks again for all the reviews, alerts and favorites. **_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Fluffsters beware…more fluff and drabble. I know it is probably out of character for Kate to knit, but it's my story and I want her to knit. If that bothers you then don't read any further.**_

_**Sorry to say the characters are not mine.**_

A little over a half an hour after Kate sauntered into the shower she walked out to the kitchen; dressed in an old pair of jeans and a dark red sweater, her hair blown dry but not straightened so it hung past her shoulders in loose waves.

"Hey." She said as she walked toward Castle and looked in the pan. "Omelets?" Then she looked at her fridge with her eyebrows raised.

He smiled. "Uh, no I didn't use food from your fridge. I opened it earlier and a green cloud appeared."

She rolled her eyes at him and poured herself some coffee.

"I ran down to the market on the corner and picked up a few things."

"Ummmm, thanks, I haven't exactly spent much time here lately." She sat down at the table and he placed a plate with a ham and cheese omelet in front of her. He sat down across from her with his own fork and started eating from her plate. She smacked his hand with her fork. "Get your own, Castle."

"There are five eggs in that; you'll never eat it all." He reached for another forkful, just as his cell phone buzzed. He looked at the screen and said, "Ah, it seems Alexis needs rescuing from her mother, I suppose I should go." He looked over at Kate. "How about you, any big plans for the day?"

"I'll probably head over to the precinct for a little bit and finish up the paperwork on this last case."

"Seriously, Kate? You should take the day off, do something fun. I'm going to rescue Alexis for a bit and then I'll be back to haunt you."

"Castle, don't bother. I'm fine. Maybe I'll hear from Lanie."

He walked over to where she was sitting and placed his hand on her back and kissed her on the forehead and said, "Don't hold your breath waiting to hear from Lanie, I'll be back."

She watched him leave and shook her head and smiled, she wasn't going to psychoanalyze this. She got up and washed the breakfast dishes and then grabbed her jacket and took off to the precinct.

It was already late afternoon, and Kate was still at her desk. She hadn't planned on being there that long but she got caught up in the case. She had just finished clearing off the murder board when she heard the elevator doors open and Castle walked up and sat down in his chair.

"Castle, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question, I told you I'd be back."

"I just finished up some paperwork."

"I had a feeling you'd still be here. Heard anything from Lanie?"

"Of course not."

"I thought you might like to grab a bite to eat."

"Still trying to avoid your ex?"

"Am I that transparent?"

She looked up at him and smiled.

He raised his eyebrows and said, "Thanks for last night. It was fun."

She rolled her eyes and got up from her desk and asked, "So, Prince Charming, where are you taking me?"

"Ahhh, your wish is my command. Where would you like to go?"

"Oh, I don't know, it's nice out let's just take a walk and see what's out there."

He helped her into her jacket and then followed her to the elevator.

The air outside was crisp and the leaves on the trees were starting to change to bright oranges and reds. They walked in silence taking in the fall sights. They hadn't walked far when Kate pulled on his arm. "Look, a yarn store."

He looked at her with his eyebrows raised. "Um, that's nice."

"Come on let's go in." She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the little boutique.

"Kate, why do you want to look at yarn?"

"I love yarn, I love to knit. I just hardly ever have time for it anymore."

"You knit?" He held the door open for her. She let go of his hand and walked into the shop.

"Yes, I knit."

"Did your mom teach you?"

She laughed and said, "No, actually my grandmother taught me, my Dad's mom. She lived in upstate New York and I would spend weeks at a time with her in the summer."

"Another layer of the Beckett onion peeled, who would have ever guessed?"

She shook her head at him and continued to touch the different yarns. She found a dark black heather with blue flecks in it; it was a merino and cashmere blend. "Do you like this?"

"You are seriously asking my opinion on yarn?"

She rolled her eyes at him and picked up another skein and then went to the cashier to pay for it.

"I'll get it."

"Castle, you are not paying for my yarn."

The woman at the counter looked at Kate and said, "That's a good man that will buy you yarn, you hang on to him sweetheart."

Kate smiled at the woman and didn't even acknowledge Castle's smirk. She pushed his hand away and handed the woman the cash for the yarn.

As they walked out of the shop, Castle said to her. "So what are you going to do with that ridiculously expensive yarn?"

"I'm not telling."

"Hmph, be that way." He took her hand again as they continued walking and finally decided on a small Irish pub and grabbed a table in the back. They ordered beers and burgers and chatted for over an hour.

As they walked out of the pub it had started to rain. Kate tucked her yarn purchase inside her coat and Castle tried flagging down a cab, without any luck. "Rainy Saturday night, I think we're going to have to walk in the rain."He took her hand and they dodged puddles and practically ran all the way to her apartment.

Once they were inside the door he turned her towards him and placed his hands on her waist and said, "I think we should _not sleep together_ again tonight?"

"Castle, there's no reason for you to stay here again tonight."

"Except that my ex-wife is at my apartment."

"Can't she stay at a hotel?"

"She and Alexis are bonding."

Kate rolled her eyes at him.

"Besides it's pouring out and I'll never get a cab."

"Fine Castle, you can stay here, but this is the last night, OK?"

He pulled her into a hug and said, "Yes, Mam."

She rolled her eyes at him and pulled away from him. "Don't call me Mam."

She took off her wet coat and he took it from her and hung it up in the closet and then removed his and hung it up beside hers. He pulled off his wet socks and shoes and started to remove his jeans.

"Castle, what are you doing?"

"My pants are wet; I'll freeze in these, since you don't seem to have any heat in this place."

"I cannot believe I just said you could stay here." She went into her room and changed into a pair of plaid pajama pants and a t-shirt and handed him a pair of sweats. "You can change in the bathroom."

"Afraid you might like what you see, Detective?"

She shook her head at him and smiled and pointed to the bathroom. While he was changing she made a pot of tea and brought it into the living room and got out her yarn and needles. When he came back in he poured them each a cup and wasn't sure if he should sit on the couch with her or not. She looked up from her yarn and said, "Sit here Castle, I can use your help."

"You are NOT going to teach me how to knit."

She motioned for him to sit beside her. "Hold out your hands." She placed the skein of yarn on his outstretched hands and started to wind it into a ball.

He looked at her with his eyebrows raised. "How long is this going to take?"

"Are you bored already? Would you like me to turn on the TV for you?" She stopped winding long enough to turn on the TV. They sat and watched reruns of _Happy Days_ while she wound her yarn and started knitting. She eventually put the knitting down and curled up with him on the couch. They woke up long enough to brush their teeth and head off to bed.

As she climbed into bed she said to him, "Make sure you stay on your side of the bed."

"Yes, Mam."

"Castle, I told you not to call me Mam."

"Then stop ordering me around."

"I don't order you around."

"Do so."

"Go to sleep."

"See, you're still telling me what to do."

"Castle, you're touching me."

"I am not."

"Yes. You. Are."

"Where?"

"Knees."

"Well, it's your fault; you're hogging all the covers."

"What? I am not. If you don't move and stop complaining you'll have to sleep on the couch..or better yet, you could go home."

"OK, I'll move." He moved back slightly. A few seconds later he let out a loud sigh.

"What?"

"I'm cold, can't we just snuggle for a few minutes so I can get warm?"

"Castle, we are NOT snuggling."

"Then I need some warm socks."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No. I won't be able to sleep if my feet are cold. Tell me what drawer they are in and I'll get them."

"You are NOT going to rummage through my drawers."

"I won't rummage."

"I'm sure you'll survive without socks."

"I'm sure I won't." He moved his feet over to her side of the bed and placed them on her legs.

"Castle!" She moved her legs back and pushed him over to his side of the bed. He promptly rolled over and pulled on the blankets so she was half covered now. She grabbed the blankets and pulled hard, but he was holding on tight and he rolled back over and landed on top of her. She let out an exasperated sigh.

He wiggled his eyebrows at her and smiled and said "I'm getting warm, now."

She rolled her eyes at him and tried hard not to smile, but it wasn't working and her lips turned up slightly.

"I win again."

"How's that?"

"I made you smile."

"Yeah, you did."

He pulled his arms out from under the covers and rested on his elbows, his hands playing with her hair he bent down and very lightly kissed her on the lips and said "G'Night." He rolled off of her and wrapped his arm around her waist and gently nudged her shoulder so she rolled over and he curled up behind her and drifted off to sleep.

Kate smiled to herself as she snuggled in for the night. There were no butterflies, just a content feeling of something she wasn't sure she could name, she did know one thing though; there was more than one winner at this game.

_**OK, I think I'm going to end this here before it gets any sappier, I also have no idea where I am going with it so I'll stop and there will be a sequel…soon I hope. Thanks again for reading and reviewing. I really do appreciate it.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**So, here I am again with another chapter. No sooner had I said I was going to end this story, and then this pops into my head. So of course I had to get it out of there. More fluff. There seems to be plenty of you out there who want this so I am happy to oblige. **_

_**Characters are not mine. Oh, how I wish. **_

"This can't seriously be happening."

Castle had a wide childish grin on his face. "It's the Universe again trying to tell us something."

Captain Montgomery looked at Beckett and then back at Castle and shook his head and said as he left, "I'm sure I don't want to know."

He had said she could take Esposito and Ryan, however she knew they had big plans to go out with their girls for the evening. She could have taken one of the other officers too, but she knew Castle and sometimes the worst of what you know is better than the best of what you don't know.

"Come on Castle, we'll stop at my place first and then yours and then we're off." He chattered incessantly about snacks and the best place to stay and Kate just kept on driving. After grabbing a few items from her place and changing into jeans and a sweater they headed over to the loft. Martha and Alexis met them at the door.

"Dad, you're going on an overnight field trip with Beckett?"

Kate rolled her eyes and said, "Alexis, we're going to talk to a victim's mother who happens to be in a nursing home in Boston." Martha looked at Kate sympathetically.

"Yeah, isn't it great, Pumpkin?" He took off to pack his overnight bag and Martha handed Kate a glass of wine.

"Uh, Thanks Martha but I'm driving."

"Oh, you really are a big rule follower aren't you? Well then, at least take a bottle for later. God knows you'll need it." She handed it to Kate and then gave her a reassuring pat on the back.

Alexis had made sandwiches for them and put together a few other snacks. She took the wine from Kate and placed it all in the small cooler, then placed two to-go coffees on the counter.

"Alexis, thank you. You really didn't have to do this."

"Detective, you have no idea how many times he'll try to make you stop if there isn't food in the car."

Kate took a deep breath, she was already regretting this. Esposito and Ryan were going to pay dearly for this. Just then Castle came back in with two bags.

"Castle, it's just one night, you can't possibly need all that stuff."

"We have to be prepared, Detective. Plus I packed some games and music."

"Castle….."

"You'll thank me later, I promise."

She glared at him and took another deep breath, raking her hand through her hair and turning around to look at Martha and Alexis. Martha handed her the glass of wine that was now half gone and said, "Go ahead, a few sips aren't going to hurt."

Kate took the glass and drained it and then grabbed her coffee and smiled at Alexis. "I'll try really hard to bring him home in one piece."

Alexis gave her a nervous smile and then went over and said goodbye to her father. Martha gave Kate a hug and pushed them both towards the door.

As soon as they were on the road Castle started to pull out some CDs. "Um, Kate where's the CD player in this car?"

"Castle, there's just the radio. How many times have you ridden in this car and you are now just realizing this?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"I don't suppose there's a jack for my iPho…. No, I guess not." He started to reach for the dial on the radio and she shot her hand out and pushed his away.

"You know the rule Castle, driver chooses the station."

"But you always drive."

"Exactly."

"But we can't sing along to this stuff, what is this anyway?"

"It's new age jazz and I like it."

"We need something more upbeat or we'll fall asleep, you have to sing on a road trip, Beckett."

"Maybe you should take a nap."

"Oh, haha very funny, how much longer?"

"Don't start with that or you'll sit in the back seat."

He rolled his eyes at her. "We should stop for snacks."

"Alexis packed you a doggie bag."

"Really? She's such a great kid." He reached into the back seat for the snacks. "So what'll it be Detective, pretzels, popcorn, oreos….."

"How about we just eat the sandwiches?"

"OK, find a good place to pull over and we'll stop and eat."

"No, Castle, we're eating and driving, no stopping."

"You, Detective Beckett are a killjoy. You do not know how to take a proper road trip."

"Why do you think I don't have a partner?"

"Lucky for you, you have me then."

"Oh, yes lucky for me, sandwich please."

He handed her a chicken salad sandwich and looked at the itinerary for their trip. "Um, Beckett this says we are staying at a Days Inn."

"That's sounds about right."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Gee, Castle did you really think the City of New York would pay for us to stay at some ritzy hotel on the harbor?

"No, but I can."

"It's not necessary, it's just one night."

"Yeah but Boston harbor is gorgeous." He pulled out his phone and started looking up info for the Boston Harbor Hotel.

"Castle, what are you doing?"

"I'm canceling our reservation for the Days Inn and making new ones."

She reached over and tried to grab his phone but he moved it just in time.

"Eyes on the road Detective, don't want to crash this nice car of yours, on second thought, maybe we would get a newer more comfortable model."

"Fine Castle, you can make your reservation but I'm staying at the Days Inn."

"Not anymore."

She glared at him and then went back to eating her sandwich. It was futile trying to argue with him. Next he'd be trying to talk her into staying the whole weekend. He was actually quiet after he ate. Just like a kid with a full belly, it wasn't long before he drifted off to sleep. Which, for Kate was even worse than all his babbling, because now her mind wandered, back to their weekend of _not sleeping together_. She had to admit it was nice having him there. He was good to her; some might say he was good for her. She was never sure what his ulterior motives were. At first she was sure she would just be another notch on his bedpost. She hadn't let that happen. She wasn't sure where she wanted this to go. They were a great team. He was, without a doubt, the best partner she'd had in a really long time. He'd saved her life numerous times and in more ways than one. He made her happy, she trusted him. She looked over at him. Good looking too. She sighed and continued to drive letting her thoughts wander.

They'd been driving for a few hours when Castle finally started to come to. "Oh, wow. Sorry I fell asleep, not very good company am I?"

She looked over and smiled at him. "Some might say perfect company."

He ignored her remark. He noticed she looked tired. "Hey, how about we stop and grab some coffee, and stretch our legs?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a good plan."

They pulled into the next rest area, and went their separate ways once inside. Rick bought coffees and donuts and a few snacks for the rest of the ride and headed back out to the car to wait for Kate. When she came out he was standing against the passenger side door, she reached around him to unlock it and he slipped his arms under her jacket and around her waist and pulled her towards him. Her forearms landed up against his chest. She looked up at him with a smile and raised eyebrows.

He pulled her in closer and said, "This is the real reason I wanted to stop."

She slid her arms up his chest and around his neck and rested her chin on his shoulder. His arms came around her tighter and he pulled her into a hug. He slipped one hand out from her waist and moved the hair back off her shoulder and placed a few light kisses on her neck. She pulled back smiling; lip curled under her top teeth and then he looked down at her and brushed his hand along her jaw and leaned in and kissed her, she tightened her arms around his neck and kissed him back. It was a long, slow and sweet, mind numbing kiss that left her knees weak.

When he finally pulled back and she had caught her breath, he reached for her hand and said, "I have a surprise for you."

"Oh, another one?" Smiling, she took a deep breath and raked her hand through her hair.

"Close your eyes and open your mouth."

"Um, I don't think so Castle."

"Come on Kate, trust me, you'll like this." He was smiling like a six year old with a new two-wheeler.

"OK"

He let go of her hand and started to unwrap something and then put it in her mouth.

She smiled immediately, and started chewing the pink gooey mess. As soon as she could speak she said, "I love this stuff, hurts my teeth though."

They climbed back in the car and drove the last leg of the trip having bubble gum blowing contests, while Castle, using the flashlight app on his phone, read all the comics to her.

_**OK, so seriously, one more chapter and then I have to either change the title or do a sequel. Thanks again for your generous reviews and alerts. I'm sending you all cyber cookies and hugs!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: Sorry this has taken a little longer than I planned but my muse took a vacation and neglected to leave me the details of their trip to Boston, so this is what we've got. I've been reading lots (way too much to be considered healthy) fanfiction lately and I have to say as I've said before there are some really talented writers on this site. I can't even begin to compete with most of them; however some of you are still reading my little pithy stories so I will continue to entertain you. Hope you enjoy.**_

Kate was sitting on her couch watching him sleep. The late afternoon sun peeking in through the window and casting shadows on his face. He had insisted on taking her home first. She had finally agreed to let him drive the last few hours of the ride home from Boston. He said he would take a cab from her place, but while she was making coffee he had dozed off. Not really ready to let him go just yet, she sat beside him, he woke up long enough to wrap an arm around her and pull her down toward him so they were lying on the couch and she nestled up against him. He had pulled the throw over their shoulders and mumbled "I'll leave in a few minutes, K ?"

"Um, hmmmm." She snuggled in closer, her hand resting on his chest and her leg over his. They had indeed spent the weekend in Boston _not sleeping together. _She smiled at the thought. He had surprised her by getting a double room; not wanting to assume anything. It had been an incredibly relaxing weekend; soaking in the enormous Jacuzzi pool at the hotel; him teasing her about not wearing a teeny-weeny bikini followed by her quick repartee of "_When you wear a red Speedo_!" They had eaten at some really great restaurants and enjoyed local seafood. The harbor views from their hotel were absolutely spectacular. They had spoken to the victim's mother Saturday morning and then did lunch and shopped at Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. They spent the afternoon walking the Freedom Trail hand in hand. They avoided the bookstores with towering displays of _Naked Heat_; and managed to steer clear of fans and paparazzi. They enjoyed a stroll through the North end and ate dinner at a little Italian restaurant, stopping at Mike's pastry for cannolis on their way back. He'd actually dragged her into a little yarn shop and insisted on buying her some beautiful hand painted yarn in a shade of green that matched her eyes. The whole atmosphere in Boston was so much more relaxed than what either of them were used to.

She had seen a side of him that she hadn't seen before. He was still witty and carefree and always a gentleman. More relaxed though and catering to her every whim. She didn't usually let guys or anyone for that matter take care of her. But this had been nice. She'd been surprised after their little make-out session at the rest area, but he'd behaved himself with only a few chaste kisses here and there. They had certainly grown more comfortable with each other and although she wasn't quite ready to even admit that they were _together_ she felt that the feeling was mutual. She still wasn't ready to rush into anything. She'd been burned too many times, and this relationship not working on a personal level would certainly put an end to their professional relationship.

She was just starting to doze when he nudged her and said, "A penny for your thoughts."

She chuckled. "They're worth more than that."

"Really?" He pulled her tighter. "I think I should stay here with you tonight, you might freeze to death if you have to sleep alone. Doesn't the heat work in this place?"

"I just turned it up." She nuzzled up to him and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Wouldn't Alexis miss you?"

"She's having dinner with Ashley's parents, not due back for awhile. Lately it seems like I play second fiddle, I'll get about ten minutes of her undivided attention and then she is on her phone chatting with her friends about the love of her life…who by the way is no longer 'dear old dad'."

"It's to prepare you for when she leaves for college. You'll just have to find something else to occupy your time."

"Or _someone_ else." He suggested as he kissed her on the forehead. He carefully turned onto his side so they were facing each other.

She readjusted herself, but kept her hand on his chest, moving her knee in between his legs. She raised her eyebrows at him and smiled. "Have anyone in particular in mind?"

"Oh, yes." He said as he placed light kisses on her eyes and nose and along her jaw, his hand moving towards her neck and then up into her hair. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath as his mouth made its way to hers. Soft light kisses that got more intense, her hand slowly making its way up towards his neck and her body moving closer to him. She wasn't sure how long it lasted, seconds turned into minutes. His lips left her mouth and found her neck again and she let out a small moan and he chuckled.

"Castle, I think…"

He whispered into her ear, "… we should move to the bedroom?" He rolled on top of her and snagged another mind boggling kiss and then rolled off of her and into a sitting position. He smiled as he looked down at her. Her hair disheveled and a stunned look on her face.

"Um…yeah…." She took a deep breath to clear her head. "I mean….. NO…." He stood up and reached down for her hand and helped her up. She raked her other hand through her hair and steadied herself. Not quite ready to look him in the eye, afraid that what she may see might just do her in.

"Kate.."

"Castle, please just no…not…."

He put his hand on her chin and made her look at him.

"Castle, I'm so sorry, I'm just not…."

He kissed her again and with both hands on either side of her face he said "Kate….stop it, it's OK, I will never force you into anything you're not ready for." He placed a light kiss on her lips and continued, "I've waited this long, I can wait longer. I know what's at stake here and I'm not willing to mess that up either, OK?"

She bit her bottom lip and nodded, a slight smile forming on her lips. Her arms moved up around his neck and his moved down around her waist and he pulled her into a tight hug. When she pulled back she smiled at him, looking into his eyes and placing both hands on his face she kissed him one more time and said, "Thank you."

He led her to the door and placed a sweet tender kiss on her lips, then picked up his bags and left.

She closed the door and locked it; leaned up against it and put her head back smiling.

_**As always I love to see a mailbox full of reviews and alerts and so on….makes me very happy. Hugs to all who have stuck with my drabble.**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**I'm warning you ahead of time this is a sappy mess. **_

_**Characters are not mine and are probably way OOC for Marlowe and Company too. **_

"Hey."

"Hey, yourself." He handed her a coffee and set a bag with a muffin in it on her desk. "I was going to bring you cannolis but Alexis ate the last of them for breakfast."

She smiled up at him and said, "Thanks. So how is Alexis?"

"She actually hung out in my study with me and chatted with _me_, her 'dear old dad' for almost an hour last night. She loves Ashley's parents. Which I'm not sure is a good thing, I was holding out for the evil boyfriend's mother to scare her away a little."

"So absence really does make the heart grow fonder?"

He smiled at her and whispered."I don't know Detective, you tell me."

"I meant with Alexis."

"I know what you meant, but did you miss _me_."

"Hmmmm, maybe." She refused to look up and continued to fill out paperwork. A smile escaping her lips even though she was biting her lower lip.

"I seem to be missing something of mine."

"Oh, really."

"Yes, really, and I think you know what it is."

She did know what it was, but there was no way she was giving it up. As soon as she unpacked her suitcase and saw his dark blue dress shirt in her bag she put it on. It was hanging on the back of her bathroom door at the moment. She had every intention of putting it back on as soon as she got home tonight.

"If you get to keep my shirt then it's only fair that I get to have something of yours too."

"Fair enough. I think I have a pair of polka dot knee socks you can have."

"Oh, very funny, not quite what I had in mind. Besides as cold as your apartment is you shouldn't be giving away your warm socks."

"I'm sure I don't want to know what you have in mind."

"Probably not, no need to embarrass you here at work. Anyway….Alexis asked me to invite you to dinner tonight."

She looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Really, you expect me to believe that?"

"Absolutely."

"This isn't a ploy to get me to _not sleep_ with you again is it?"

"Nope, no ploys, although…." He just waggled his eyebrows at her.

She shot him a look. "Ok, what time and what can I bring?"

"6 ish is fine and you don't have to bring anything."

"If I can't bring anything then I am not coming."

"Fine, be that way, you can bring dessert. Chocolate is always good."

They were interrupted by the ringing of her phone. "Beckett….."

"Let's go Castle, we have a case."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Kate knocked on Castle's door and was greeted by Alexis.

"Hey, Detective Beckett, thanks so much for coming."

"Thank you for inviting me Alexis and please, call me Kate." She handed Alexis the bag in her hand.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes ,double chocolate mocha chip."

Alexis smiled and said. "Here, you can take it in and give it to my dad; I'll take your coat."

Kate took the ice cream back and walked into the kitchen. "Smells good in here." She placed the ice cream in the freezer and walked over to where Castle was standing at the stove and peered into the pot he was stirring. He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek.

"Long time no see. Did you bring my shirt?"

"What shirt?" She stepped away from him as Alexis walked into the kitchen.

Alexis smiled at them and rolled her eyes. "Hey, Dad, how much longer until supper is ready?"

"About 10 minutes."

"I'll entertain Kate while you finish."

Before he could complain, Alexis took Kate's hand and led her into the living area and pulled her down to the couch.

"What's up?"

Alexis took a deep breath and said, "Can I talk to you?"

Kate didn't like the sound of this, she was sure Alexis was going to have something to say about her and her dad spending too much time away from her, all sorts of thoughts were running wild through her head.

"Kate?"

"Oh…um of course, what did you want to talk about?"

"Ashley."

Kate let out a sigh of relief and smiled at Alexis. "Sure, go ahead."

Alexis looked nervous. "I usually can talk to my Dad about anything, but this is hard for him"

"OK."

"I really like him a lot, Kate."

She smiled at her. "Yeah, that's pretty obvious."

"I mean _really_ really."

"As in…you want to…?"

"Oh…Gosh…No….well, I don't know, not yet….um I don't think so…I don't know….I think …I'm just not sure…is that what you meant?"

Now Kate was getting flustered. "Is that what _you_ meant?"

"I don't know Kate; I've just never felt like this before. He's so sweet and kind and good to me. He consumes me. I can't think of anything else. I miss him as soon as I leave him. I can't concentrate on school or college applications and essays. Sometimes I wonder if I should just break up with him so I can get on with my life. I know it would break his heart though and I get sick thinking about it."

Kate swallowed and her heart tugged for the girl, she gave her a sympathetic smile and reached over and placed a strand of her long red hair behind her ear and rested her hand on her shoulder. "Enjoy it, Alexis. This is something really special. You don't have to go there. Take your time, get to know each other, go slow and savor every moment of it. He seems like a really nice guy and I'm sure he'll respect your feelings."

Castle chimed in from the kitchen, "Hey, supper's ready in two minutes."

She gave Kate a quick hug and said, "Thanks, Kate." "I'm going to go wash up, I'll be right down."

Kate walked slowly back into the kitchen thinking about Alexis' little rant and smiled at some of those feelings because she knew exactly how she felt. Castle handed her a glass of wine. "Did you have a nice chat?"

"Yeah, we did."

"And?"

"And what?"

His eyes got wide. "Is everything OK?...Oh My G….you didn't have a birth control conversation with her did you?" The color drained from his face.

"Castle, relax. He sounds like a really nice guy."

"Yeah, well I was a nice guy at that age too."

She raised her eyebrows at him and said. "She needs you to be her dad, Castle."

"I know."

He slipped his arms around her waist and kissed her quick before they were interrupted by Alexis again.

"Dad, Kate, do you mind if Ashley joins us for dessert?"

Castle looked at Kate, "I'm sure there's not enough ice cream for four."

Kate looked at him annoyed. "There's _plenty_ of ice cream, Alexis, if your father doesn't eat it all."

"Ok, but he's sharing yours."

Alexis gave both adults a hug and sent Ashley a text, and then they all sat down to eat. The main topic of conversation being college choices. They had no sooner finished eating when the doorbell rang and Alexis jumped up to get it. Castle poured another glass of wine for each of them and Alexis came bounding in with Ashley in tow.

"Ash, you remember my dad? And this is his girlfriend Kate." Castle stood up to shake his hand and Kate choked on her wine at the use of the word girlfriend, but stood up and tried to maintain composure. "It's nice to meet you, Ashley."

He nodded at Castle. "Mr. Castle." And then to Kate, "and Ms…." He shook her hand and he looked at Alexis.

Alexis piped in with "Oh, Beckett, Detective Beckett." The color drained from Ashley's face. He looked at Alexis and whispered "your dad is dating a police officer?"

"Yeah, cool huh?" She smiled at Ashley and said, "We're going to go listen to music until dessert is ready." They started to go toward the stairs and Castle cleared his throat. Alexis rolled her eyes at her father and took Ashley's hand and led him to the couch in the living room.

Kate pulled Castle back into the kitchen rather abruptly and glared at him.

He knew what this was about and before she could say anything he planted a kiss on her lips and as she started to pull away and open her mouth he placed his index finger over her mouth.

"I did _**NOT**_ tell my daughter that you are my girlfriend, she assumed, although I'm not sure where she ever got that idea; it's not like I ever talk about you or spend any time with you or anything like that, right?"

Her face softened a bit and he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a hug. Kate's mind wandered back to her conversation with Alexis. When did this happen that _he_ was now consuming _her_ thoughts, that as soon as she left his arms she wanted to be back. She wasn't a teenager in love for the first time. Her stomach flip-flopped and her heart skipped a beat at that thought and she started giggling when his kisses started trailing down her neck.

He loved the sound of her laugh. She looked like she was a million miles away. "Earth to Kate."

She pulled back and smiled at him, "What?"

He looked at her with a silly grin.

"You're staring at me? Why?"

He didn't answer her, but bent down and found her lips and kissed her; his hands on either side of her face, he brushed her cheeks with his thumbs and said "Because, Kate Beckett…."

"Yeah?" she said breathlessly.

He kissed her again, his tongue caressing her bottom lip. "You make me….." he kissed her some more this time nibbling on her neck and shoulder in between little kisses. "So very, very happy." He pulled away and looked at her again.

She was afraid if she removed her arms from around his waist that she would fall down. There was that feeling in her stomach again. She swallowed the lump in her throat, her eyes just a little misty and barely choked out a "Yeah?"

He kissed her on the forehead and said "Yeah."

Alexis came in the kitchen with Ashley right behind her and stopped short when she saw her dad and Kate. She pulled Ashley back; he smiled at her with his eyebrows raised. "Wow, they've got it bad."

Alexis sighed a happy sigh. "They sure do."

_**A/N: I'm sorry…I don't know how this happened. The muse just took over. I promise not quite so much sappiness in the next chapter. Thank you again to those of you who are reading and reviewing. I makes me so very, very happy ;o) Hugs!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**She is watching **_**him**_** sleep. They are 'not sleeping together' **_**again**_**. He saved her life, **_**again**_**. She asked him to stay in the car **_**again**_**. And he didn't, **_**again**_**. **

He blocked the shot from her and he ended up getting shot, fortunately he was wearing his vest. The impact knocked the wind out of him and he was slammed into the concrete floor, she broke his fall, but he ended up with a minor concussion. He was out for a few seconds and in that short amount of time when she was sure her own heart stopped beating, she knew there was no going back. She was all in. Whatever doubts she had were gone.

It took a minute or so for Castle to come to. Kate was still on the ground, sitting with his head in her lap, calling his name. A sigh of relief escaped her as he started coughing and sitting up. It wasn't long before the EMTs were there. They suggested he go to the hospital to be checked out, he was of course refusing. Kate promised she would be there shortly to take him home. Without even thinking she kissed him and sent him on his way. She walked back towards Ryan and Esposito who had collared the shooter, raking a hand through her hair.

"You OK, Beckett?" Ryan asked as he placed a hand on her arm.

"Yeah, fine….um…..where are we with this….?" She looked around but wasn't really able to focus.

Esposito looked at her and said, "Beckett, we've got this, go."

Just then Montgomery showed up and said, "That's right Beckett, we've got this, go and I don't want to see either of you for a few days."

"Really, Sir, I'm…."

"It's an order Beckett, go, now."

She walked back towards the ambulance that was leaving and Karpowski came over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Come on Kate, I'll take you."

She made a quick call to Martha and reassured her that he was fine. She would see her at the hospital.

She waited in the waiting room with Martha and Alexis retelling the story. It wasn't long before he appeared with a pretty nurse at his side. His face lit up however when he saw his family waiting for him. The nurse looked at them all and said, "He'll be fine, just had the wind knocked out of him. Minor concussion, watch for nausea and excessive sleepiness."

After hugs all around Martha and Alexis went to get the car and Kate stood with him at the entrance to the ER. He put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. "I need someone to watch me sleep tonight; I don't suppose you'd like that job?"

She rolled her eyes at him and raked her hand through her hair. He pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the forehead.

"I um, need to go home first and get a few things, OK."

"Yeah, like my shirt." He felt her giggle.

"It's the only thing I have of yours; I think I'd like to keep it for awhile longer."

"Kate" he pulled her away and placed his finger under her chin and made her look at him. "You have my heart and you always will." He kissed her lips softly and pulled her back into a hug.

She sucked in her breath and held him tight until Martha pulled up with the car. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a keychain and handed it to her. It was small and made out of metal and the name 'NIKKI' was etched on it.

"It's a key to the loft."

She smiled and took it from him and said goodbye to everyone, and took a cab to her place.

When she returned a little while later he was on the couch, curled up with Alexis. She looked up at Kate and smiled and disengaged herself from her father. The sudden movement woke him up and he kissed her on the forehead.

"I'm going to go up to bed. I've got a chemistry exam first thing tomorrow morning."

"Make sure I'm up before you leave, OK Pumpkin."

Kate rolled her eyes at him and Alexis just smiled and went up to bed.

Kate went into the kitchen and got some water for both of them and took his hand and pulled him up from the couch.

"Where are we going, Detective."

"Don't get too excited there Prince Charming, but I'm taking you to bed." She left him off at the bathroom and he came out a few minutes later with Star Trek pajama bottoms on and a t-shirt. She shook her head and laughed at his choice of night time attire. She instructed him to drink the water and she went into the bathroom herself. When she came out he was already asleep. She climbed into bed and he reached for her, she curled up beside him, laying her head on his chest and quickly drifted off to sleep. They both slept fitfully but it was enough for her to know that he was ok.

Her internal alarm went off at 6:30 and she untangled her body from his. He started to grumble and tried to pull her back. She kissed him lightly and said, "I'll be right back, I need water." He mumbled something incoherent in reply. She just chuckled and grabbed his robe and put it on and went to the kitchen and made breakfast for Alexis.

"Hey, how's Dad?"

"He slept fairly well, he's grumbling now so I think he's fine." She smiled at Alexis.

"You didn't have to get up with me."

"I know, it's kind of nice though. I never have to take care of anyone."

"Well, thanks, I really appreciate it. Um….Kate?...Is he going to be OK, should I stay home with him?"

Kate reached a hand over to Alexis' and said, "Yeah, he's going to be fine. Just rattled his noggin' a little. And Montgomery doesn't want to see any of us for a few days so I'm planning on staying here with him."

Alexis looked reassured and smiled at Kate and ate the scrambled eggs and toast in front of her.

"Do you need a lunch?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to make it last night, I can grab something at school."

Kate opened the fridge and pulled out stuff for a salad and gave her a questioning look."

Alexis smiled and said, "Ok, sure, Thanks Kate."

Kate threw a lunch together for Alexis while they made small talk. Just then Martha came flying into the room and gave Alexis a hug and went to get coffee and hugged Kate on her way.

"Can I get you anything Martha?"

"I should be asking you that; how's the patient?"

"He's fine, I figured I'd let him sleep in."

"Good choice, Well, I'm off, don't anyone wait up for me, I'll be VERY late."

"Bye Gram."

Martha winked at Kate and flew out of the loft.

Alexis grabbed her stuff and then looked at Kate, "Do you think it would be alright if I just said goodbye to my dad?"

"Of course."

Alexis poked her head into his room and walked over to his bed, he turned and looked at her and then at his clock, "Oh, hey Sweetie, you didn't get me up."

She reached over and planted a kiss on his cheek and sat beside him. "It's ok; Kate got up and made me breakfast and a lunch."

"Is she still here?"

"Yea, she is."

"OK, are you off to school?"

"Yeah, I have violin this afternoon so I won't be back until later."

"OK" he reached up and gave her a hug.

"You feel OK?"

"Just tired." He rolled back over and she quietly left the room. She thanked Kate again, gave her a hug and grabbed her stuff and took off to school.

Kate finished up the dishes and grabbed a coffee and some toast and brought it into the room. She was intending to give it to Castle but he was asleep. She curled up in the window seat with her knitting and nibbled on the toast and sipped on the coffee. She didn't really get much knitting done. She sat there contemplating her situation. She couldn't imagine being anywhere else right now. This is what she wanted, maybe just what she had been looking for all her life.

He had woken up to her staring at him. She was a million miles away though. Sitting in his window seat, knitting draped on her lap, her wayward curls cascading over her shoulders. She had stolen another one of his shirts, and placed a throw over her legs and peeking out from under he could see her bright green and pink polka dot socks. She looked like she could have been one of Alexis' friends. She blinked and realized he was awake. He smiled at her. "Watching me sleep, Detective?"

"That is supposed to be why I'm here isn't it?"She slipped off the window seat and slid into the bed and reached over to his face and brushed away a piece of hair and caressed his cheek and jaw. How are you feeling?"

He reached up and took her hand in his and said, "Well, I'm in bed with a beautiful woman so not so bad."

She rolled her eyes at him, and scooted over so she was closer to him. He slid his arm over her waist and around her back and pulled her closer. Placing little kisses on her neck and making her giggle. She pulled her face away and looked at him.

"You scared me last night."

"You scare me every day, Kate."

She moved in closer wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight. He rolled her over so most of his body was on top of hers; he was supporting his body on his elbows and kissing her. He stopped briefly and looked in to her eyes. He was about to say something and she stopped him with her lips.

"Thank you for not staying in the car."

"About that.."

"Let's not think about the 'what ifs' and the 'what could have beens', OK?"

He kissed her eyelids and then started working his way down her neck and started unbuttoning her shirt. "OK, but do we get to talk about what's next?"

Her hands were under his t-shirt now caressing his waist. "I think you should just stop talking."

He raised his eyebrows at her and grinned and went back to kissing her and taking her mind off of last night and what could have happened.

They spent the rest of the day 'not talking about what happens next.'

_**I'm sure you were hoping for something a little more detailed here, but that's as far as the muse would let me go ;o). Hugs!**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate! Here's a little bit of something. Depending on how much alcohol I need to consume to get through Thanksgiving Dinner with my family (that I am honestly so very grateful for) I will have another little update later on this evening, maybe or maybe in the morning ;o)**_

Kate was sprawled over the side of his body. Her head resting on his chest; hand on his shoulder. He could feel her eyelashes brush up against him and he had one hand playing with her curls and the other caressing her back. She was content to stay nestled up against him forever. They'd been in this bed all morning and for the better part of the afternoon. They had ventured into the bathroom for a shower and ended up back in bed, towels and robes strewn over the floor, joining the nightstand table drawer debris after searching relentlessly for condoms; finding some eventually after she upended her purse. She chuckled now at the mess.

"What?"

"We should probably clean this up before Alexis gets home."

He craned his head to see the clock and groaned.

"How much time to do we have?"

He hugged her tight. "About forty-five minutes."

"I don't want to move."

"I'm not sure I can."

Clearly his head injury was only minor. Their lovemaking had started out slow and sweet, they had explored each other's bodies gently with their hands and then more passionately with their mouths. She couldn't kiss him long enough or in enough places and they eventually lost themselves in each other. They had stayed wrapped in each other's arms, she still kissing him over and over again until they finally drifted off to sleep.

Hours lately they reluctantly climbed out of bed and quickly sorted through the mess on the floor, each claiming their own belongings. She headed into the bathroom locking the door before he could follow her in and took a quick shower.

A few minutes later Kate was sitting at the bar at the kitchen counter, hair up in a messy bun, wearing a t-shirt and yoga pants, Castle was in a t-shirt and jeans standing behind the counter when Alexis walked in. She looked up from her phone and greeted the two with a smile.

"Hey, Dad. How do you feel?"

"I'm good actually, Detective Beckett took very good care of me."

She smiled at Kate, then looked back at her phone, texting quickly and then looked up again. "So you got some rest Dad?"

"Ah, yeah, some."

Alexis' phone buzzed again and she smiled at the text. She looked over at Kate and said, "And you hung out and watched him all day?"

Kate took in a deep breath and pursed her lips, "Yep, pretty much."

"That's so sweet of you, Kate, um I'm going to go call Ash, OK?" She headed for the stairs, phone to her ear not waiting for a response.

Kate slowly let the air out of her lungs and looked at Castle with wide eyes.

He leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on her lips and said "I'm not sure she heard a word we were saying, we could probably have a go at it right here and she wouldn't notice."

"Um, maybe so but I'm not taking my chances. I should probably head home any way."

"What? You can't leave. Who will watch me sleep?"

"I think your noggin is just fine."

He walked over to where she was sitting and placed a kiss on her head. "I can't stand the thought of you all alone in that cold apartment; don't you want to stay here so I can keep you warm?"

"I don't have any clothes, Castle."

"You've been wearing mine anyway." He started kissing her neck, slowly working towards her mouth; it wasn't long before their hands were under each other's shirts. She backed away when she heard Alexis coming down the stairs.

"Hey, Kate are you going to be here for Thanksgiving dinner?"

"I'm actually working."

Castle looked at her questioningly. "I thought you were all off? I heard Esposito and Ryan making plans.

"They are all off, I'm working though. I always do."

"What time do you get done?"

"Around four."

"Then we'll eat at five. What about your dad?"

"Castle, don't do this. He won't come."

"Can I ask him?"

"He has a dog."

"Excuse me?"

"He has a dog, he won't leave him."

"Is it a really big dog?"

"No."

"Is it a mean dog that will take bites out of my nether region?"

She smiled. "No, it's a very nice Irish Jack"

"As in 'Jack Russell that bounces and runs all over the place and barks'?"

No, as in a very sweet dog."

"So, he can bring the dog."

"He won't come."

"Can I call him?"

"You think you can charm him into coming?"

"Yes."

She rolled her eyes at him.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started scrolling through his contacts when Kate got up off the stool and stopped him with her hand.

"You have my father's number in your phone?"

"Of course."

"How did you get it?"

He raised his eyebrows, "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

"He called me."

"He called _you_?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"After your apartment blew up."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Why? Maybe because he was concerned about you."

"But I called him."

"And said, 'Yes Dad, my apartment blew up but I'm fine, don't worry, I'll call you in a few days' and then you didn't call him so he hunted me down."

Alexis had been watching this whole scene with a smile on her face. She slowly walked out of the kitchen and went back upstairs to let them hash this out on their own. Castle had been backing away from Kate who was inching closer and closer to him, her face getting a little more determined with each step.

"And what did you tell him?"

"Um…..you know, not much, just reassured him that you really were okay."

Her stare was boring through him. He put the phone back in his pocket and moved toward her placing his hands on her waist

"Kate, he's your father. You don't think for one minute if something like that happened to Alexis I wouldn't be doing the same thing."

Of course he would. She swallowed and looked away. She let him pull her into a hug. It had been awhile since she had seen her father and now all of a sudden she wanted to see him.

"I'll call him."

He kissed her on the forehead and hugged her tighter. "Thank you, what does the dog eat?"

She shook her head and chuckled.

"_Jack_, eats anything and everything."

"He named his Jack Russell 'Jack'?"

"Yep, creative huh?"

Alexis was back in the kitchen, clearing her throat. Kate moved away from Castle and made her way back to the barstool.

"So, what's for dinner?"

Castle looked at Kate and then back at Alexis. "How about takeout? Chinese, Italian, what'll it be girls?"

Alexis smiled at her father. "How about French toast? And then a movie?"

Kate slid off the stool and said, "Well, I think I can handle that."

"No, you are going to call your father; I will make my very famous French toast."

Kate rolled her eyes and went into the other room to get her phone and call her dad.

She came back out just a few minutes later with a stunned look on her face.

"What did he say?"

"You know what he said."

He smiled at her and did a feed the birds with Alexis."

"How did you know he was going to say 'yes'?"

"Kate, really? He adores you, of course he wants to spend Thanksgiving dinner with you."

"Um…hmmm….I think he adores you, I think you two have been in cahoots together for some time now." She started walking towards him. He quickly placed two pieces of French toast on a plate for Alexis and ran out of the kitchen, with Kate close at his heels.

Alexis sighed as she heard the bedroom door slam and Kate burst into a fit of giggles.

_**Thanks so much for all of you who are reading and reviewing and just reading. **_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: I know I promised this earlier but it ended up being much longer. Hope you enjoy :o)**_

_**Characters are not mine, just in case you were wondering!**_

Kate had finished her shift and even though it was pretty cold out and she had worked outside most of the day she decided to walk back to the loft. She was a little apprehensive about dinner. She hadn't celebrated Thanksgiving since her mother died. She had always worked and sometimes even did a double shift. She would meet her dad over the weekend and they would have lunch and then go their separate ways. She was surprised when her dad readily agreed to dinner with the Castles.

Jim Beckett showed up at the loft at noon, with Jack the Jack Russell in tow, along with a suitcase and a white chocolate pumpkin cheesecake for his daughter. As soon as Alexis was introduced she claimed the dog as her own. She immediately took his leash and took him for a walk. Rick and Jim settled in the kitchen to get some cooking done for dinner and then Martha and Alexis joined them for a game of poker while they waited for Kate to get there.

Kate quietly let herself into the loft and as she hung up her coat she was greeted by an enthusiastic Jack. She knelt down and scooped up the small dog and nuzzled him while he gave her doggie kisses. She put him back down and followed him into the living room where they were finishing up their game. Jim smiled as he saw his daughter and immediately walked over and pulled her into a tight hug. She snuggled into his warm embrace. Between the scent of him, the aroma of the holiday food and not having seen him for quite a while, she was a little overwhelmed. He pulled back to look at her and tugged on her long curls and smiled.

"It's so good to see you Katie."

"You too, Dad. You look good."

"You look more like your mother every time I see you." He placed both hands on the side of her face and kissed her on the forehead. "I've missed you."

She pulled him back into a hug and said quietly, "I've missed you too, I'm so glad you're here."

He kissed her on the cheek and pulled away from the hug. "I think I better go check on the cranberry sauce."

"You made Mom's sauce?"

"And her sweet potato casserole, with a little help from Alexis." Alexis was now at his side and took his hand and pulled him toward the kitchen as she smiled at Kate and mouthed so only she could see "I love your Dad."

Kate smiled at her as Castle came up beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"How was your day?"

"Well, certainly not as much fun as yours, how long has my dad been here?"

"Oh, not too long."

"Yea, sure."

He kept his arm around her waist and started to walk toward the kitchen when Kate said, "I'm going to change quick and then I'll be right out, okay?"

"I'll help."

She chuckled. "I do not need help."

"Maybe not, but I need a proper kiss."

She rolled her eyes at him and took his hand and led him to the bedroom, closing the door behind them. She had stayed at her place last night and had to admit that she had missed him and wanted a little more than just a kiss right now. She placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him slowly and sweetly while his hands were busy unbuttoning her blouse, she let out a quiet moan and placed her forehead on his chin.

"Castle we can't do this now."

"I know, I'm leaving." He kissed her again and slid her blouse off her shoulders and caressed her bare arms. "Have I told you how beautiful you are?"

"Castle." She sighed and pushed him away. "Go, please."

He chuckled and kissed her one more time then headed back to the kitchen.

Kate groaned and made her way into the bathroom to wash up and change.

When she joined them a few minutes later the food was on the table and they were ready to eat. Her father was pouring sparkling white grape juice for everyone, except Martha who had her own glass of something just a little bit stronger.

Once he sat down and everyone had food on their plates he said, "I'd like to thank you all very much for inviting me, this is very nice."

Kate reached over and squeezed his hand and said, "Speaking of which, how long have you guys had this planned?"

Rick avoided her eyes and her father just said, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Katie."

Alexis and Kate both rolled their eyes at them.

Martha chuckled. "Give it up Kate, you're not going to get a straight answer out of these two."

Jim looked over at Alexis and said. "So let's hear about this boyfriend of yours."

Alexis rattled on about some of Ashley's finer qualities while Jim ate and listened with a smile on his face. He looked over at Kate and then Rick and said, "You meet the parents yet?"

"Oh, yes I have. Lovely folks."

"Did Katie ever tell you about the time we met her first boyfriend's parents?"

Rick looked over at Kate and saw the look of sheer horror on her face and just laughed."

"Dad, you do remember that he writes books for a living and it's possible some of what you are about to say may end up in them?"

"I would love to hear this story, and for your information nothing you tell me is used without your permission."

"When have you ever asked my permission for anything?"

"Well, when I do ask you always say 'no'."

Jim started laughing at the two of them. "His parents came for dinner in ratty jeans and long hair; they weren't there for even five minutes when they pulled out homemade cigarettes. Johanna was appalled and made them put them away, it went downhill from there. The more we tried to tell Katie they weren't good role models the more time she spent with them. Her mother finally convinced me to ignore the whole situation and that our daughter would eventually see the light at the end of the tunnel. However we had to endure heavy metal rock music, black clothing and wild makeup and hair. It was a very long eight months."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Dad, it was only three months."

"Really, it seemed like a lot longer than that."

"Have you two been sharing stories about me all day?"

"Oh, I forgot about the time your mother had to pick you up at the police station when you were seventeen for indece….."

Kate was out of her chair with her hand over his mouth instantly. "Not funny, Dad, I can't believe she told you about that."

Rick looked quite amused. "I'll be getting the rest of that story later."

"Oh, I don't think so."

Jim just laughed and continued eating.

The banter continued throughout dinner and clean-up. Martha escaped as soon as the meal was eaten claiming she had a party to attend. She left in skin tight metallic red leggings and a short leather jacket with four inch red heels.

Jim raised his eyes at the outfit and looked at Rick. "Does she need an escort?"

Kate slapped him on the arm. "Dad, seriously?"

"What?" he deadpanned.

After the dishes were all done they settled in for the night in front of the television to watch a _Harry Potter_ marathon. Within ten minutes Jim was snoring in Rick's recliner and Alexis was curled up on the floor asleep with Jack. Kate took Rick's hand and pulled him up and when he started to protest she put her finger up to her lips and shushed him. She pulled him along to the bedroom and he followed. She left him at the bed and sauntered into the bathroom and said she would be right out. When she returned to the bedroom a few minutes later he wasn't there. She climbed into bed and he came through the door with a plate of cheesecake.

"You are not going to eat MY white chocolate pumpkin cheesecake in my bed"

"Your bed?"

"Yes, I believe the other night you said 'whatever is mine is yours'."

"That was said in the heat of passion."

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh, so I should disregard anything said in the heat of passion."

"Um….no."

She very vividly remembered that conversation. She was wearing his dark blue dress shirt and he told her that he had every right to take it off of her because it was his. This started a very heated argument that ended up with him yelling 'apples' and finally agreeing that yes she could have the shirt and anything else that belonged to him.

She climbed out of bed only wearing a dark blue lace chemise and matching underwear and took her plate of cheesecake and sat on the floor with her back to the bed.

"That was for us to share."

"So come and get it."

He sat down on the floor in front of her she leaned forward with a forkful of cheesecake and he got a view of her breasts swelling out of the top of her chemise. He obviously wasn't looking at the fork and she just laughed and ate the mouthful of cheesecake herself.

"Um….Kate?"

"Yes?"

"Maybe we should save the cheesecake for later."

"There won't be any left later."

He leaned forward and kissed her neck and started nibbling her ear; his hands roaming around the hem of her cami. It didn't take long before his hands were under the shirt caressing her breasts. She soon lost interest in the cheesecake and placed the plate on the floor beside him. He continued kissing her and nibbling on her shoulders and neck, one hand roaming under her shirt and the other working its way under the waistband of her underwear. He pulled back and said, "So about this story your dad was telling."

She took in a deep breath and said, "Castle, I will not be telling you that story."

He stood up and took the plate of cheesecake and started to walk toward the door.

"Castle, what are you doing?" She got up and stood in front of the door and reached for the plate.

"Oh no, if you don't tell me the story you don't get the cheesecake." He put a forkful in his mouth.

"You came in here with that with the sole purpose of getting that story out of me?"

"Maybe."

"Well, you can have the cheesecake, that's not exactly what I want right now." She placed her hands on his waist and moved closer to him.

He turned around and moved away from her. "What is it you want, Kate?"

"You know what I want, _Rick_." She glared at him as he took another bite.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure I do, _Kate_."

She took the last bite of the cheesecake off the plate and stuffed it in his mouth and while he looked at her stunned she removed the plate and fork from his hands and placed them on the bureau and pushed him toward the bed kissing the cheesecake off of his face. When his legs hit the bed she yanked his shirt off in one quick move and then pulled hers off and pushed him down onto the bed and straddled him.

He smiled up at her and said. "You know I am going to get that story out of you one way or another."

"We'll just have to see about that won't we?" She leaned forward and kissed him.

"Yes, we will."

When all was said and done, he did get the story out of her and she found out that he and her dad had been playing poker together for months.

_**Hope you all had a lovely holiday and are recuperating nicely. I am eating sweet potato casserole and homemade cranberry sauce as we speak. Thanks again for all your lovely and spirited reviews. Hugs and blessings to you all. **_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Fluff. Literally. **_

Kate was standing in the freezing rain at the crime scene where she had been since 5 am. The temp was hanging around 36 and the wind was blowing, she could no longer feel her fingers or toes. She was cranky to begin with. Castle had been in LA for the last five days working out the details of the new _Nikki Heat_ movie and she had been staying at the loft with Alexis and Martha. Mostly Alexis. Martha always seemed to have other plans. Which was why he had asked her to stay in the first place. She had actually really enjoyed being there. They were bonding nicely and they had spent their evenings quietly getting to know each other better. The week had been relatively slow as far as work went so she hadn't had to be away much. Alexis had just sent her a text to let her know that school had been cancelled. At least Kate didn't feel guilty about not being there to send her off to school. However she would have much preferred to be at the loft in front of the fire sipping cocoa with Alexis and knitting or reading than hanging out in the freezing rain. She was just about to hand things over to Ryan and Esposito when she felt a hand at the small of her back and before she had time to question who it belonged to she heard his voice.

"So what brings us all out in this fine NY weather?" He let his hand slide up Kate's back and back down then gave her a quick pat on the bottom and placed it in his pocket after Kate nudged him ever so lightly with her elbow, trying very hard not to react to his shenanigans. Esposito and Ryan were filling him in while Kate tried hard to concentrate on the case and not the fact that she hadn't seen him in almost a week, and every inch of her body was responding to that fact.

Lanie piped in, "Hey, Sweetie, I think we can get the body moved to the morgue and I'll get back to you as soon as I know anything else."

"Thanks, Lanie." Kate said and then looked at her boys. "Why don't you guys look into the family and the vic's financials and I'll see you back at the precinct in a bit." She threw her keys at Esposito. "Take my car back will you?"

"Where are you going?"

"Dry clothes and lunch."

"Riiight."

"The vic's family and financials, Esposito."

"We're on it." He looked back at Ryan. "You and Jenny ever do that?"

"Do what?"

"You know. A nooner on your lunch break."

Ryan raised his eyebrows at him and looked away.

"Pathetic, Dude, you're all whipped."

"Jealous."

Lanie was back and looked at them. "Jealous about what?"

Esposito looked at Ryan and threw Beckett's keys at him. "Nothing." He looked at Lanie and said "How about we go get some lunch and warm up."

"Hell, yea." They started walking in the opposite direction of Beckett and Castle, while Ryan just shook his head.

As Castle and Beckett were heading back to his car and he placed his hand in her pocket and wrapped it around hers. "I missed you."

She squeezed his hand and leaned in toward him and smiled. "I missed you more."

"Not possible, Detective, just not even possible."

She chuckled as she let go of his hand and they climbed into the car. He started it up and blasted the heat and then turned and reached over and tucked a wayward damp curl behind her ear and rested his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her towards him; he grazed his lips across hers. Her hands were on the lapels of his jacket, and she gently tugged at them as she moaned slightly as his lips touched hers again, he deepened the kiss, after what seemed like forever and still not long enough she was nibbling on his lower lip as he pulled back and said, "I think maybe we should get you home so you can get into some dry clothes."

She tugged on his lapels and her lips were assaulting his again. "Alexis is home today."

"I know, I stopped in to see her before I came here. I was thinking we could stop at your place."

"She smiled, "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I was given very specific orders not to return to the loft before five."

This got Kate's attention. She looked at him and said, "Castle, what were you thinking leaving her home alone like that, when Ashley has the day off too, do you have any idea what they might be doing?"

He chuckled. "She has a chaperone." He moved away from her after one more quick kiss and pulled out into traffic and headed to her apartment.

"Martha? Seriously?"

"No, actually your dad is there."

"My father is at the loft babysitting Alexis?"

"Well, I don't know who is babysitting who, but they have some sort of surprise going on."

"What do you suppose they are up to?"

"Well, given the time of year, I would venture to guess it has something to do with Christmas."

"My father used to love Christmas; we haven't really done much these last few years. It's too hard for him."

"Well, Thanksgiving turned out all right."

She smiled, it certainly had. "Yea, especially for you, finding out all my secrets."

"I highly doubt 'you and your friends driving around flashing your 'boobies at a police cruiser' constitutes as 'all your secrets'."

"Yea, well, we thought it was a carload of football players."

"That's your story."

"It is and I still can't believe my mom told him that."

"Maybe she didn't. Maybe it was another parent of one of your promiscuous friends."

"Hmmmm, he didn't even know the parents of my friends."

"Oh trust me Kate. We know. We don't let them know we know, but we know."

"I suppose I was too naïve to think that."

"I would have never pegged you for the naïve type."

"More like too wrapped up in my own world, to think my parents even had friends."

"Okay, I'll give you that." He smiled at her as he parked his car at her apartment. He turned to her and placed a quick kiss on her lips and said, "Let's get you out of those wet clothes."

She chuckled at him and rolled her eyes, he grabbed her hand and they dodged raindrops as they ran up to her apartment.

Their coats were off and hanging to dry over the backs of chairs, the heat was cranked up and they were under the covers sans wet clothing and in her bed in record time.

"Jeesh, Kate, this place is freezing." He was shivering as he wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her close.

"Well, lucky you have me to keep you warm."

"Oh yeah, all 96 degrees of you. We may need a hot shower before anything else." He was placing light kisses on her face and neck.

"Well, it's going to take awhile for the water to heat up so we'll have to find something to do in the meantime." She started caressing his chest and rolled over so she was on top of him.

He pulled her face towards his and started kissing her, his hands rubbing her back and her bottom. He gently let his fingertips slide along the side of her ribs and she started giggling and squirming. He rolled her over and tantalized her until they were both plenty warm and throwing the covers off.

They both took a quick shower and she was dressed and in the kitchen when he came up behind her at the counter. He nuzzled her neck and wrapped his arms around her waist. "What are you eating?"

"Ummm….nuffing"

"Nuffing? Your 'nuffing' smells like peanut butter." He tried to grab her hand but she pulled it away. He turned her around and kissed her.

"Ummmhmmm deeefinitley peanut butter and oh what's this?" He said as he licked something white and sticky off her lips and cheeks. "You Detective Beckett are eating a Fluffernutter."

"Am not."

"Oh, I have evidence." He pushed her up against the counter and grabbed her hand with the toasted sandwich in it, she tried to pull away but his other hand was tickling her just under her sweater. The warm gooey mess was dripping all over her.

She swallowed her mouthful of fluff and peanut butter.

He smiled at her and licked the rest of the fluff of her face. "Now look what you've done? You're going to have to change your clothes again, and you're going to be late getting back to work."

"No, I'm not." She looked at him sternly. "You." She said as she poked him hard in the chest. "Are going to make me another sandwich while I go change my sweater."

"Killjoy."

She wiped her gooey hands all over his face and then he proceeded to lick off what was left on her hands. He pulled her sweater off along with his own and pushed her back into the bedroom. Rubbing his face all over her body and then cleaning up the mess with his tongue.

They convinced themselves that the roads were too icy to be out driving on anyway.

_**Sorry, I just couldn't resist. I had to make 20 fluffernutters for a Christmas party and this just popped into my head. Lucky you! Hugs to all and I hope you are enjoying this wonderful season of holidays! Again, thank you all so much for reading and reviewing it makes my heart tumble with joy. Okay…that was too sappy…I'm going to my party.**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: Apologies again for the sappiness that follows. Not sure what's gotten into the muse. Too many Christmas movies (and grog) I guess. ;o**_

They were sitting at her desk. She was desperately trying to finish up paperwork so she could go home.

"Favorite childhood Christmas tradition?"

"Castle, if you keep throwing ridiculous questions at me I am _never_ going to get this finished."

"Just answer the question, Detective."

She put her pen down and leaned back in her chair stretching her legs out in front of her. "Is this for Nikki Heat or just your own curiosity?"

He looked up from his phone. "Oooooh, I could call it _Frozen Heat_ or _Snowbound Heat_." He waggled his eyes at her and then smiled and said. "Just my own curiosity."

She looked over at him and bit her bottom lip. Debating whether she wanted to share this or not, but oddly enough she didn't feel awkward so she took a deep breath and looked away briefly and said, "As a kid I loved making cookies with my Mom. It was something she had always done with her mother. We'd pull out Nonna's Italian cookie recipes and put on aprons and listen to Christmas music. We'd spend an entire day at it. As I got older it was a chore and then my first year of college I wasn't able to get home and I missed not doing it and swore I would be home to do it the following year." She stopped and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "And then she was gone." She played with the ring hanging from her neck. "It was hard at first to make them without her, but then I found it to be very meditative almost and it's become a calming and peaceful tradition I look forward to." She looked up from the ring and placed it back inside her shirt and said, "What about you, what was your favorite?"

He certainly hadn't expected this. He was a little overwhelmed at first that she had divulged such a private part of her, but as usual he lightened the moment. "Well, as you can only imagine I didn't make cookies with my mother. Believe it or not she always dragged me out to Midnight Mass and then we would get hot chocolate and ice cream sundaes. This of course so Santa could get into our apartment without me seeing him. When we got back at around 2 am we would open our gifts."

"So, who put the Santa gifts out while you were gone?"

He looked at her with wide eyes. "It was Santa of course, you know Detective, if you don't believe, he doesn't bring you anything."

She rolled her eyes at him and sat back up. "Okay, enough of this game, I have work to finish and didn't you say you had a date with Alexis?"

"I do, will I see you later?"

"Um, I don't know. Maybe I'll just hang at my place tonight and see you in the morning."

He gave her the sad puppy dog face. "Can you at least walk me to my car so I can kiss you goodbye?"

She shook her head and smiled at him. "You'll try to change my mind."

He looked around the bullpen; there wasn't anyone there but them.

"Don't even think about it Castle."

"Beckett, come on. I need a goodnight kiss."

She quickly kissed the tip of her finger and placed it on his lips; he grabbed her hand and laced his fingers in hers. She squeezed it tight and smiled at him. "Okay, get out of here and go spend the evening with your daughter."

"Yes, Mam."

"Don't call me Mam."

"Yes, Dear?"

"ARGHHHH, Castle. Go. Home."

"I'm trying."

Once he left it hadn't taken her long to finish up her paperwork and clear her desk for the weekend. She had spent the evening doing her laundry and cleaning but there wasn't much to do since she'd hardly been there. She picked up her knitting and put on the TV and tried to watch _White Christmas_ but found she didn't want to watch TV not curled up on the couch with him; same thing with a book. At ten she finally gave up and went to bed. And at 11 she climbed out of bed and threw on a pair of boots and pulled a sweatshirt on over her t-shirt and flannel pajama bottoms, pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail, grabbed her purse and keys and hailed a cab to the loft.

She was going to send him a text but didn't want to wake him if he had already gone to bed. She unlocked the door and quietly removed her boots and pulled off her sweatshirt, put her purse and keys on the front table, she could see a faint light on in the Living room and the glow from the fireplace. There were Christmas lights all over the loft, the surprise from Alexis and her father last week, and the tree was lit up, there was Christmas music playing softly in the background.

He was sitting on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, laptop on his lap. He closed it up and put it on the table when he heard her come in and reached over and turned off the light. She curled up beside him and let out a sigh; he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, placing a kiss on her head. They stayed that way for some time.

When did this happen that she couldn't get warm, couldn't get comfortable, couldn't sleep unless she was with him. She hadn't wanted it to come to this, never thought it ever would, but she had to admit to herself, for the first time in her life if she really thought about it, she was content. It was both reassuring and overwhelming, especially since she had always prided herself for being so fiercely independent.

He reached over the back of the couch and pulled down the blanket. He turned his body so he was lying down and pulled her down with him. They were now lying side by side facing each other. Looking into each other's eyes, he kissed her on the cheek and pulled the scrunchie out of her hair and raked his hands through her curls. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly her hand bunching up his t-shirt and moving up his chest and behind his head and gently playing with his hair. She moved closer to him, her knee working its way in between his. Her lips grazed his ever so lightly once, then again.

"I couldn't get warm."

He kissed her again and hugged her tighter. "You feel warm now."

She nodded and kissed him and let out another sigh. "And I couldn't get comfortable."

He slid his hand under her t-shirt and caressed her lower back. "Are you comfortable now?"

She nodded again. "I didn't want to miss being here, being with you."

"But you did."

"I did."

"And that makes you a little bit crazy."

"Just a little bit."

"There is a solution to that you know?"

"I know."

"Just so long as you know."

She swallowed the lump in her throat. She loved that he didn't come right out and ask her to move in with him, it really was too soon for that.

"I do."

He turned onto his back and she settled in and rested her head on his chest. After a few minutes she climbed on top of him, placing her hands on either side of his face and kissed him, her tongue tracing his bottom lip and then kissing him until he moaned and she had to stop to catch her breath, then she rolled onto the other side so she was against the back of the couch.

"Better?"

"Umhmm, now I can see the tree."

He chuckled and hugged her tight. "Sleepy?"

"Ummm."

"Do you want to go to bed?"

"I want to stay here."

"Okay."

"K."

"G'night Kate."

"Night."

He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

"Rick."

"Hmmm."

"I love being here with you."

He was sure his heart skipped a beat or two. There was more he wanted to say, he was sure she knew that already, but might not be ready to actually hear it. He pulled her closer and laced his fingers through her hand that was on his chest and brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed it. "I love you being here with me."

She squeezed his hand and finally drifted off to sleep, warm, comfortable and content and maybe just a little bit of something more.

_**I would like to think I'll get another chapter up before Christmas, but I can't promise the muse will stay away from the cookies and (spiked) eggnog long enough for that to happen. So, on that note I would like to wish all who celebrate a very Merry Christmas and all the joy and peace this season brings. A huge thank you to all who write, read and review on this site. You have kept me somewhat sane over these past few months. Hugs :o))))))**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**This is a whole lot of nothing. Just fluff and nonsense. I should be wrapping presents but this is what I'm doing instead. **_

_**And of course the characters are still not mine.**_

She was curled up against him in her bed, not quite fully awake when he had asked her if she would come back to the loft with him.

"Kate, it's Christmas Eve, Eve Day, you have to come back home."

She looked up at him with raised eyebrows and took in a deep breath. She was there almost every night and it really was beginning to feel like home. "Castle, I have stuff to do, that I can't get done if I'm hanging out with you at the loft."

"You can do your laundry at my place."

"I'm not talking about laundry."

"Then what? What can you do at your place that you can't do at mine?"

"It's Christmas Castle, figure it out."

He smiled. "Oh, you have to wrap _all_ of my presents. Well, you can lock yourself in the bedroom and take all the time you need."

"How about you stop hovering and let me do what I need to do and maybe, just maybe, I'll show up later, okay."

"You have to show up later. Your dad is going to be there for a few days." He moved over to the other side of the bed in anticipation of what was to come. And sure enough the pillow came crashing down on his head. "OUCH, Beckett, that hurt."

"You invited my father to your place for Christmas and didn't even ask me? What if I had wanted him to stay here…with me?" She walloped him again with the pillow.

"Oh, yea on your short, oh so comfy couch, in your cozy, warm apartment with all the _really_ nice Christmas decorations." He put his arms over his head to shield it from the next barrage. Only this time she aimed for his gut. He let out a strangled "OOOF" and sat up and wrestled her onto her back, and covered her mouth with his before she could smack him again. She was struggling under him and trying to get leverage with her feet to flip him when he started tickling her mercilessly. Within seconds she was giggling. Every time she started to say something he would cover her mouth with kisses. One hand tickling her, the other caressing varying parts of her anatomy that was slowly rendering her useless. He knew she wouldn't surrender easily so he made sure she was beyond the point of no return before he eased up and she was ripping his clothes off of him and flipped him, forgetting about the pillow and his comment about her dad and only about her physical needs at the moment.

They'd been pleasantly dozing off and on when Kate said, "You do know that I am mad at you. I might even hate you just a little bit."

He raked his hand through her disheveled curls and chuckled. "Well, by all means I am going to have to piss you off more often."

She rolled her eyes at him and playfully slapped his chest.

He rolled onto his side so he could face her, brushing her curls off her shoulder. "For the record, it was Alexis who asked him and I have expressed to her how inappropriate it was for her to do that without your permission. She happened to mention to him that she was playing the violin at Midnight Mass and he said he would love to hear her play sometime and she asked if he would like to join us. One thing led to another and you know how the story goes. I believe her intentions were purely innocent. He is quickly becoming the grandfather she never had, she adores him and I think the feeling is mutual."

"It is. He really had a great time with her over Thanksgiving."

"Yes, they did do some bonding didn't they? I believe the plan for today is for them to shop for food and do some cooking and then he is taking her and Ashley to my mother's play this evening."

"Still mad at me?"

"I s'pose not." She moved onto her back and closed her eyes.

He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips. She smiled at him. "You wore me out."

He chuckled and planted another kiss on her lips and nibbled on her neck and then his mouth travelled down her chest. She giggled and pushed him away and rolled onto her side with her back to him.

He hugged her tight and said. "Okay, I'm going to take a quick shower and leave you to your chores. I'll be back at seven to pick you up."

"Whas at seven?" She mumbled, not opening her eyes.

"I'm taking you out to dinner and then we can meet up with everyone at the theater."

"K."

She slept for another hour then crawled out of bed, put some Christmas music on the stereo and spent the day making her grandmother's Italian cookies, catching up on laundry and wrapping presents. At six she vaguely remembered something about dinner but found she was exhausted so she curled up on the couch thinking she would just doze for a few minutes and promptly fell into a deep sleep.

Castle rapped on her door at seven and there was no answer, he knocked again, figuring she might be in her room and not hear him so he pulled out his key and unlocked the door. He juggled a small tree and a poinsettia. He saw her on the couch and quietly placed the tree on the coffee table and the poinsettia beside it. He pushed the little button on the tree so the lights would twinkle. He took the blanket from the back of the couch and placed it over her then took off his jacket and tie and rolled up his sleeves. He cancelled their reservations and started washing the mountain of dishes in her sink. He was on the last dish when she appeared at his side and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty." He smiled. Her hair was up in a very messy ponytail with loose tendrils escaping all around her face; her t-shirt was covered with flour. He wiped some frosting off her nose and kissed her.

"Hey." She kissed him back. "Thanks for the tree and the poinsettia. I'm sorry about dinner."

He just chuckled. "Not a problem. Looks like you were pretty busy today." He nodded towards the table that was covered in little packages of cookies and all the presents on the floor. "You obviously needed the rest."

"Ummmmm." Her head was back on his shoulder. He dried off his hands and snaked his arm around her waist and led her back to the couch.

"Have you eaten anything today, other than cookies?"

"Nutella."

'Nutella and what?"

"Jus' Nutella."

"You do know that Nutella is not food?"

She looked at him stunned. "Yes. It is."

"No, it is not. That would be like calling mayonnaise food, only mayo is probably healthier than Nutella."

She wrinkled her nose at the thought of eating spoonfuls of mayonnaise. "I can't believe you jus' compared Nutella to mayonnaise." She moved away from him and lay back down on the couch with her feet in his lap and her eyes closed.

He started massaging her feet. "How about I make you an omelet?"

"No eggs left."

"Grilled cheese?"

"No bread, no cheese."

"Pasta, you must have some pasta?"

"Nope."

"How is it you don't have any real food, but you had Nutella?"

She opened her eyes briefly and smiled at him. "Priorities."

"All right, we're getting take-out." He took out his phone and called in a double order of fettuccini and broccoli Alfredo. He went back to massaging her feet and looked over at her with a concerned look on his face. "Are you okay?"

"Ummmm, sometimes when I make cookies I have some wine."

"Ahhhhh. So, let me get this straight, you made cookies all day, and had nothing to eat, except cookies, Nutella and wine?"

"Yep, but I also did laundry and wrapped presents."

"Maybe you should have bought some groceries." He looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Just how much wine did you drink?"

"Enough to make me happy." She opened her eyes and smiled at him.

He stopped massaging her feet and took her hands in his and pulled her up so she was sitting beside him. She climbed onto his lap and buried her face in his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

"I would have stayed with you."

"I know. I'm okay." She looked at him and placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him. Long, sweet kisses. "I had a very good day." She ran her hands though his hair and nibbled on his lower lip.

"Would you like to just stay here again tonight?"

She pulled back and looked him in the eyes and shook her head. Her hands were on his face caressing his cheeks and vey quietly she said, "No, I want to go home with you and spend Christmas together with my family."

He took in a deep breath and kissed her, taking a second to let his heart catch back up he said, "Well then, I guess we better sober you up and get going. We can still meet up with everyone after the show for ice cream."

She pulled out her ponytail and shook her hair out then gave him a wicked smile and said. "I might need some help in the shower." She climbed off his lap and pulled on his hand, and just as they passed the door there was a knock.

"That'll be supper."

She stood in front of him and undid a few buttons on his shirt. She slid her hand over his chest and up around his neck and whispered into his ear, "I'll see you in the shower." She kissed him and sauntered off towards the bathroom, pulling off her t-shirt and tossing it back at him.

"Yes, yes you will."

_**So, not sure there will be another update before Christmas, but I said that earlier this week too. Have to see how cooperative the muse is. I'm off to wrap presents, or knit, or read more fanfiction…..;o) Hugs :o) And thanks again for all the reviews, alerts and favorites. Best. Christmas Presents. Ever!**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**This chapter is based on a book I received for Christmas called "Casting Off", by Nicole R. Dickson, all the designs that are described are from her book. No copyright infringement is intended at all. **_

_**Once again the characters are **_**not**_** mine. :o( **_

It was the day after Christmas and a blizzard was making its way up the east coast. Kate and Rick had just dropped Alexis and Martha off at the airport and were on their way back by cab, when there had been an accident and traffic came to a standstill. Since it was only a few blocks from the loft they paid the cabbie and walked home through the snow and wind. By the time they got to the loft her feet and hands were numb. He took her coat and brushed the snow off of her hair, helped her off with her boots and then took her hands in his and put them under his arms to warm them.

"You know if you hadn't started a snowball fight I might not be so cold."

"Well, you know me, can't resist snowball snow, I'm sure we can find a way to get you warm."

She smirked at him.

He bent down and kissed her, tucking a damp strand of hair behind her ear and tracing her rosy cheeks with his fingers and then reached under her sweater to caress her back, she arched towards him and yelped.

"Hey, your hands are freezing."

"Just trying to warm them up."

"I think I'm going to change into dry clothes, no thanks to you."

"Well the least I could do is offer you some help?" He waggled his eyes at her.

"How about something to eat? I'm starving." She pushed him towards the kitchen.

He pulled her back towards him and wrapped her into a hug. "Sounds like a good plan, what would you like?"

"Surprise me." She sauntered off to the bedroom and he just chuckled and made his way to the kitchen.

A few minutes later he walked into the living room with omelets and cocoa on a tray, she was standing in front of the window wearing one of his dark blue dress shirts, a pair of leggings and the wool socks that had been in her stocking from '_Santa_'. She'd pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail with a few tendrils escaping. The tree was lit, the fire was going and the stereo was playing Christmas music. He set the tray of food on the coffee table and came up behind her and handed her the hot cocoa with mini marshmallows floating on the top, she smiled at him as she took the mug and he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Are you warmer now?" He nuzzled up to her and hugged her tight.

"Umhmm, much better. Thanks." She smiled at the marshmallows covering the top of the cocoa, and then took a sip. "The snow is pretty now that we aren't trudging through it."

"I'm just glad their flight to California got off without any delays, it looks like we may be snowed in for a day or two." He waggled his eyebrows at her and she chuckled seeing his reflection in the window.

He took her hand and led her back to the couch to eat.

She sat down and glanced at her plate and then at him. "Omelets?"

"What's wrong with omelets? You love my omelets."

She took her fork and started cutting it up and looked inside.

"What are you doing?"

"Just making sure there aren't any marshmallows in here."

"That is _so_ not funny." He looked like a sad puppy with no little boy to play with. "I can't believe Alexis didn't like those; besides, I thought you liked marshmallows."

She tapped her fork on his nose. "_Only_ in my hot chocolate; _never_….._ever_ in my omelets." She gave him a stern look and went back to her supper.

"Duly noted, Detective." He kissed her on the nose. "You will only find cheese and tomatoes in this omelet."

She rested back on the couch with her plate in her hand eating her omelet and looked over at him and smiled. Draped loosely around his neck was the dark gray cashmere scarf she had made him for Christmas. "Are you going to wear that scarf all night?"

"Maybe. I'm quite fond of it, not to mention the person who made it for me." He leaned over and placed a quick kiss on her forehead, then set his plate on the table and leaned back on the couch beside her, snaking his arm around her shoulders and gently touching her earlobe, "Besides, you're still wearing the earrings I gave you."

She shook her head. "Not the same thing at all, Mr. Castle." She put her plate on the table beside his and lay her head against his shoulder. She had been so surprised to see the earrings.

_They had all gone to Midnight Mass and watched Alexis play the violin to perfection. And true to his traditions they had all gathered around the tree at 2 am to open presents. After everyone had gone to bed Rick had handed her one more gift. As she opened it she realized it was a lingerie box and was glad he hadn't given it to her earlier. She rolled her eyes at him as she opened the box. Settled on top of the tissue paper was a pair of sapphire earrings. _

_She looked up at him and then picked them up, taking a closer look she said, "These match the necklace my dad gave to my mom on their first Christmas together, how did you know?"_

"_Your dad gave me the stone and told me the story, he wanted you to have it and he thought it appropriate for me to give it to you, I thought it was a little presumptuous on his part and he just smiled at me and said, 'have a new setting made and give it to her.' So of course, I knew a guy and had a matching stone made and now you have earrings from your parents and me to celebrate our first Christmas together." She had been speechless and almost forgot about what was under the tissue paper putting the box aside so she could put the earrings in and then thank him properly for what was quite possibly the sweetest gift she had ever received._

Smiling at the memory from the other night she slowly came back to the present. "There's a story that goes with the scarf you know."

"Like you didn't really make it?"

"No, I really made it." She slapped his chest lightly. "You were with me when I bought the yarn, you helped me roll it into a ball _and_ you watched me make it. Anyhooo…each stitch has a special meaning." She scooted over so she was leaning up against the side arm of the couch and her legs were stretched across his lap. She took one end of the scarf and held it in her hands. "My father's parents were Irish and my grandmother used to make sweaters. Legend has it that each family had specific designs for their sweaters so if a fisherman was washed ashore they would know who he belonged to by the design in his sweater. See these stitches here how they are different from the rest?" She pointed out the stitches. "They are called twisted stitches and they mean that the person this was intended for is... '_a little bit twisted'_." She smiled at him and he raised his eyebrows at her.

He looked closer at the scarf. "Do the numbers of these so called twisted stitches have anything to do with just how twisted this person might be?"

She winked at him. "You catch on quick." She picked out the design along the edges of the scarf. "This is called a Jacob's ladder and this is so you have a way to heaven."

"In case I'm washed ashore when I take the boat out to fish for dinner?"

She rolled her eyes at him and continued to explain the stitches. "These are zigzags and these in between are bobbles. They are a specific pattern used by a family of storytellers which in Ireland are called shanachies and since you are a storyteller I thought it would be most appropriate to add it." She looked up at him, tugging on both ends of the scarf and pulling him towards her. "It also has another meaning."

He kissed her and let his hand roam up along her leg and said, "Which is?"

Still pulling him close with the scarf she said, "_An unplanned journey with someone unexpected." _

He pulled back slightly. "Seriously?"

She smiled, her head tilted to the side. "Seriously." She kissed him softly.

He moved back and pointed to another design. "What about this one that goes up and down?"

"That's called a chevron, and it is a single chevron because you are single."

He looked her in the eye and said, "And if I were married?"

"Then it would be a double chevron, however, according to legend if you make someone a sweater before you are married to them, then its bad luck and you won't end up together."

He raised his eyebrows at her and said, "Well, at least they would know who I belonged to if you threw me overboard."

She climbed onto his lap and straddled him. "That's why you have twisted stitches because you have a twisted mind." She leaned forward and kissed him, her hands around his neck and gently running her fingers through his hair. She sat back as he was inspecting the scarf.

"Okay so what is this last design here?" He pointed to the double zigzag with a pattern of knit and purl stitches in between.

She cocked her head to the side and bit her bottom lip, and then very quietly placing her hands on either side of his face she said "I can't tell you that one just yet." She slowly slid off his lap and stood, using the ends of the scarf to pull him up. She started unbuttoning his shirt then untucked it and looking him in the eyes she slid it off of his shoulders, dragging her fingers along his arms, he reached for her and she placed her hand on his chest to stop him and gave him a sly look and shook her head; she took his hands and placed them behind his back and slowly pulled the scarf from around his neck and then used it to tie around his wrists. She ran her fingers along his neck and then leaned forward and kissed him very softly tracing his mouth with her tongue and working her way to his neck, nibbling at first and the gently biting his earlobe.

He let out a low moan, "Kate."

She looked up at him with one raised eyebrow and her head to the side. She ran her tongue over her lips and said. "You like that?"

He started to move towards her and she pushed him back gently. She smiled at him, and without looking away she undid his jeans and slid them down his legs. He stepped out of them. She kissed him softly from his neck down to the top edge of the waistband of his boxers and slowly made her way back up to his lips. She moved back and unbuttoned her shirt, slowly letting it slide off of her shoulders revealing his other Christmas present; a dark sapphire blue camisole edged in lace; she slid her leggings down and stepped out of her socks to reveal matching lace trimmed bikini underwear. She reached up and pulled her hair out and shook the curls so they framed her face and hung along her shoulders. She inched closer to him so that she was as close as she could be without touching him, he didn't move, he didn't' speak and they didn't break eye contact. He knew if he tried hard enough he could probably remove his hands from her bondage, but truth be told he was enjoying this side of her. She stood up on her toes and gently placed her hands on his waist, her fingers working their way around the waistband of his boxers, she leaned up and kissed him very lightly, teasing him and letting her hands trail up his sides and around his neck and placing her body up against his as she deepened the kiss, pulling back and tracing her tongue around the edges of his mouth and towards his ear and then sucking on his earlobe until he was moaning again.

"You are being most obedient Mr. Castle."

Barely above a whisper he said, "Not usually one of my stronger traits."

She smiled and winked at him. "No it isn't but it is a quality I do look for in a man."

"I'm not sure how much longer I can be obedient."

She looked down at his boxers and smiled, "I can see that." She picked up her cocoa and slurped up the marshmallows and then drank down the rest of it, she set the mug down and placed her hands on his waist again and leaned into him, he bent his head down and licked the cocoa off her mouth and slowly slipped his hands out of the end of the scarf, wrapping it around her neck then placing his hands on either side of her face and kissing her sweetly and soundly letting his tongue explore her mouth until she she was the one moaning, her hands reached up for the scarf, but he grabbed the ends and pulled her away from the couch and into the bedroom.

"As gorgeous as you are in this outfit I do think I might have to remove it, but not quite yet, I believe you have one more stitch to explain to me. He took her hands and placed them behind her back and tied them up with the scarf. It was his turn to tantalize her. And tantalize he did. Much in the same way she had done to him. Running his fingertips up her arms and back down, then along her waist and slowly up under her camisole; his thumbs finding her breasts and slowly he leaned in and kissed her, her body fully against his.

He pulled back slightly. "So that last stitch you were going to tell me about?"

"I'm not sure you're ready to hear it."

"I'm not or you're not ready to say it?"

She was chewing on the inside of her lip, and slipped her hands out of the scarf and slid her hands up his chest and around his neck. She kissed him and then pulled back, his hands loosely around the bare part of her waist, his fingertips teasing the sensitive area. She looked at him and took in a deep breath and whispered slowly and very softly "_Seeing someone as forever through the eyes of love_."

He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, never taking his eyes from hers. He moved his hands to her face and kissed her, slowly and deeply for what seemed like hours, and when he pulled back he took his thumb and wiped away the small tear that was escaping down her cheek. He pulled her to him and held her tight and said, "Well Katherine Beckett I must say I do look forward to spending forever being in love with you."

She squeezed her eyes tight and smiled and held on to him and thought to herself. _Best. Christmas. Ever._

_**A/N: For whatever reason, I had a really hard time writing this. I must have revised it at least a gazillion times. I have read it so many times that it is just gibberish to me at this point. I hope it makes sense. I wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! :o)**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**Once again a whole lot of fluffy non-sense.**_

_**Characters are still not mine.**_

The room was darker than usual for this time of day; the wind whipping snow against the window, he could almost feel the chill in the air even though he was plenty warm with Kate snuggled up to his side. It was going to be another long, cold, messy winter day in the city. He reached over and turned off the alarm. The simple movement caused her to stir; he placed his hand over hers and gently squeezed it.

"It's still dark."

"It's snowing."

"No."

"Afraid so."

She let out a sigh. "I want to stay right here all day." She snuggled in tighter and he pulled her closer wrapping his arms around her and gently tugging on her disheveled curls.

"Hmmmm I'm good with that. I'll call Montgomery and tell him you're lovesick and have to stay home today."

She chuckled. "Lovesick huh? Sounds serious."

"Oh it is _very_ serious."

"No cure?"

He rolled over so he was mostly on top of her and bent down and kissed her eyelids and then her nose. "Well, there is a cure, but it requires lots of bed rest."

Her hands reached up behind his neck and pulled him closer and kissed him softly on the lips. "Somehow I doubt there would be much rest involved."

He kissed her back. "You think?"

She smiled at him and rolled her eyes. "Umhmmm, I know this for a fact."

His lips were on her neck and trailing down to her chest. His hands unbuttoned his dress shirt that she had stolen months ago and hadn't given up.

She tried to wiggle out of his embrace. "You're going to make me late for work."

"You say that every morning." His mouth was back on hers.

"Well it's true." Her hands were gently caressing his back; then finding the waistband to his boxers, she let them slip inside.

"I would think you would have the routine down by now." He slid the shirt open and looked at her and smiled. She just rolled her eyes at him as he continued with his little rant. "A little nookie." He worked his tongue back to her lips. "A quick shower together." He waggled his eyebrows at her and then kissed her. "You do that thing you do with your hair while I make coffee and toast." He kissed her again, his tongue finding hers as he deepened the kiss. "With Nutella, of course, and then you go to the precinct and I get more coffee and something healthy for you to eat. It works every time. You haven't been late yet." His mouth found its way down to her breasts and she arched her back and moaned. He worked his way back up to her mouth and smiled as they got started on their morning routine.

A few hours later Castle came flying into the bullpen and placed a coffee and a bakery bag containing a whole grain carrot muffin on Kate's desk and said, "Um, I have to go to LA and get Alexis."

Kate was on her feet immediately. "Castle, what happened? Is she okay?"

"Oh, Meredith assumed she could take Alexis on a two week vacation to Mexico."

"Without discussing it with you?"

"She claims she did."

Kate looked at him with wide eyes. "And you were writing and didn't really hear what was being said?"

"Well, I doubt that's what happened. Alexis had no idea. Although Meredith claims it was supposed to be her Christmas present."

"And Alexis doesn't want to go?"

"No. She doesn't and Meredith is having a hissy fit to beat all hissy fits."

"And where is Martha? I thought she was out there with her?"

"She dropped Alexis off with Meredith then went to visit friends in San Francisco and is of course happy to go retrieve Alexis, but Alexis is just a little crazed right now and I think I need to go get her. I have a few things to look into regarding the _Heat Wave_ movie too, so I'm not sure how long I'll be gone, especially with the weather being what it is."

"Of course."

"Look, I'm sorry about our plans for Friday night, I know you were looking forward to going out, I'm not sure I can get there and back by then."

"Castle, don't even think about it. I need to catch up with Lanie any way. We'll make plans when you get back." She reached behind her and pulled on her coat.

"What are you doing?"

"You don't think I'm going to let you go out to LA with the deep-fried twinkie and not say a proper good-bye to you do you?"

He smiled and helped her with her coat and followed her. Just before they got to the elevators she turned towards the stairs.

He stopped her before they descended the stairs. "Kate, you do know you don't have to worry about Meredith."

She smiled at him sincerely and cocked her head and placed a reassuring hand in his arm. "I do know that Castle."

"Good. Ummmm Kate, where are we going?"

"You'll see." She took his hand and squeezed it tight then let go and they went all the way down to the basement level and down a dimly lit hall. She took out her keys and opened a door and pulled him into a small room filled with old file boxes and shelves.

"What is this place?"

"Storage for really old stuff, no one ever comes down here." She closed the door behind them and locked it; turning on her flashlight she led him to a back corner.

"Are you sure no one comes down here?"

"Yes."

"How do you know for sure? Because I'm thinking if you know about it so does everyone else in this place."

"Castle, do you want a proper goodbye or not?"

"Well, I do, but I don't want you to shoot me when pictures pop up all over the precinct computers of us 'saying goodbye'."

"There are no cameras down here."

"I'm not convinced." He used the flashlight app on his phone and started looking around. "What if someone saw us come down here and they are waiting outside. What if this place is bugged and Esposito and Ryan are listening to our conversation right now?"

She took his hand in hers and then leaned in close and in her best Elmer Fudd voice she whispered into his ear. "Then we have to be vewy, vewy quiet."

He chuckled nervously. "What exactly did you have in mind for a goodbye?"

"Well, I thought we could rip each other's clothes off and make wild, mad passionate love on the dirty, cold concrete floor."

"Really?" He croaked out.

"No. Castle, why did you pick now of all times in your life to be practical?"

"Why couldn't you just say goodbye in the garage where my car is?"

"Because then our picture _would_ be posted on all the computers in the precinct. There _are_ cameras in the garage."

"Right."

She pushed him up against a shelf and ran her hands up the front of his shirt and opened a few of his buttons and placed soft kisses on his chest and up his neck, then let her hands weave their way into his hair, her tongue finding his earlobe and that spot on his neck that made him weak in the knees. His hands were under her coat and blouse and caressing the bare skin just above the waistband of her jeans. He bent down and kissed her softly at first and then desire took over and she quickly made him forget about all of his previous concerns.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Work had kept her busy and her mind off missing Castle for the most part. A few days after he left she was sitting in her apartment reading the newest Patterson novel wearing a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt, waiting for Lanie to show up so they could do some catching up. She was more than just a little surprised to see Lanie at the door in a bright pink dress that showed off her ample cleavage. Not a color that Kate ever wore but on Lanie it was gorgeous.

"Lanie, you're a little overdressed for a night in."

"And you are a lot underdressed for a night out."

"I thought we were staying in?"

"_We_ are going out?"

"But you said…"

"No, _you_ said, 'Let's stay in', I said 'we'll see'."

"Oh."

"Well, girl don't just stand there get changed."

"Where are we going?"

"The Haunt."

"The Haunt?"

"Yes."

"Isn't that where Esposito and Ryan are playing pool?"

"I believe it is."

"Uh huh, and you want me to hang out with you while you stand around in _that_ dress and watch Esposito play pool?"

"We're going to stop and pick up Jenny."

"OHH well, that makes it okay, so I can sit around and watch Ryan and Jenny make goo-goo eyes at each other and watch Esposito drool at you in that dress?"

Lanie rolled her eyes at her best friend. "Just change into something sexy, it'll be fun."

"No, I'm not thinking it will be fun. You do know Castle's in LA?"

"So you are telling me you can't go out with the gang and have fun because Loverboy is away?"

"I'm saying I don't want to be the spare tire, fifth wheel so to speak."

"You won't be. It'll be us girls having drinks and catching up and the guys will be playing pool, I thought it would be nice for Jenny and having Ryan around will make it easier for her, we need to get to know her better and make her feel welcome."

"Okay, I get that, but why do I have to wear something sexy?"

"It'll make you feel better."

Kate raised her eyebrows "Excuse me?"

"You are sitting here pining away for Loverboy and you know it."

"Um, no, I am not pining away; he's only been gone for four days."

"He's in LA with one of his ex-wives and you are worried that he is doing the 'deep-fried twinkie'."

"Lanie, I am not worried that he is 'doing the deep-fried twinkie'."

"You seriously expect me to believe that?"

"Yes, I do."

"You're not jealous?"

"No, I'm not jealous."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

"So you are telling me that you don't care if he is doing the deep-fried twinkie?"

She took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose."

"Lanie, what I am saying is that he is _not_ 'doing' his ex-wife."

"You're sure about that?"

Kate smiled and raked her hand through her long curls. "Yes, Lanie, I am sure about that."

Lanie looked at her best friend and saw something she hadn't seen before. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, girlfriend?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "I don't know Lanie, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that maybe you're thinking you might be in a little over your head with this one."

Kate shook her head and sat down on her couch and gestured for Lanie to do the same. "No, I'm not thinking I'm over my head, maybe that's what you're thinking but I'm fine, I'm happy, we're fine, we're happy, we're in a good place, a _very_ good place for us. For now."

Lanie stared at her. "Umhmm. You do know I want details."

Kate laughed and rested her head on the back of the couch. "You are soooo not getting details, because I know Esposito will find a way to get them out of you."

"Okay, tell me one thing. Is he as good as Rook?"

Kate tossed a throw pillow at Lanie and got up from the couch blushing. Smiling and shaking her head, she headed for her room to change and said, "Shut Up, Lanie."

"I'll take that as a yes."

They arrived at The Haunt a little while later with Jenny in tow and Kate dressed in jeans and a gauzy blouse with a dark red camisole underneath, her hair down and blown out with a few curls at the ends; wearing a little more eye make-up than usual and heels to match her red cami.

The girls got caught up on all the details for Ryan and Jenny's wedding plans and then they played pool with the guys, had a few drinks and ate some nachos; she was actually having a good time. They had just finished a game when her cell phone buzzed indicating she had a text.

"Hey guys, this is Castle; I'll sit this one out, okay?" She walked back to their table and pulled out her phone.

_Hey_

She typed in:_** Hey, yourself**_

_Where are you?_

_**The Haunt with Lanie, Espo, Ry and Jenny**_

_Seriously?_

_**Seriously**_

_Sorry I'm not there with you :o(_

_**It's OK. How's Alexis?**_

_Much better. _

_**Good. Give her a hug**_

_How about a hug for me?_

_**K Hug for you too :o) Where are you?**_

_Heading home soon._

_**:o)))**_

_Do me a favor?_

_**Sure, what?**_

_Ask Brian for the keys to my office and grab the file on my desk._

_**K**_

_K, miss you__**.**_

_**Miss you too. See you soon?**_

_Yes, soon__**.**_

_**K G'night**_

_Night_

She closed her phone and drained her drink and grabbed her coat and walked over to the pool table.

"Hey, Lanie, I'm going to grab a file in Castle's office then I'm going to head home. I'll see you guys later."

"How is Loverboy?"

"Good, he's trying to get home."

"Okay sweetie. I'll call you tomorrow."

She gave Lanie a hug and said goodbye to the rest of them and headed over to the bar.

"Hey Brian."

He smiled at her. "Hey Kate, what can I get you?"

"Castle asked me to get something for him out of his office, could I get the key?"

"Sure thing." He reached behind the bar and pulled out a key and handed it to her.

"Thanks, I'll drop it off on my way out."

"Okay."

She walked towards the door that went downstairs, reached down and opened it and then let it close and lock behind her and headed down to the office, once down there she noticed a dim light on. As she rounded the corner, she sensed a presence, her heart rate quickened and while she was looking around she heard someone clear their throat, she turned towards the sound and there was Castle, standing against the door jamb to his office, smiling in his signature dark blue shirt and jeans. He watched her toss her coat onto a chair and saunter over to him, her gauzy shirt and the gentle lighting allowing him to see the outline of her slim waist and rounded breasts under the shirt. His heart skipped a beat at how beautiful she was and more than that how much he had missed her in the few short days that he'd been away.

She smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and nuzzling her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up off the ground and swung her around. He placed a kiss on her cheek and then found her mouth, kissing her senseless, his hands now on either side of her face. When they finally came apart for air, he looked down at her and placed a stray curl behind her ear and said. "Longest four days of my life."

She hadn't realized how much she had missed him, this part, the closeness, someone to wrap up in at the end of a really crappy day. He hadn't been there to defuse the drama and trauma of her work day something she had grown so used to. She pulled him back to her and held him tight for just a moment longer. "How's Alexis doing?"

"Sleeping like a baby."

"Good. She's okay then?"

"She'll be fine, she's a tough cookie." He kissed her on the forehead and let his mouth rest there a moment longer. "I missed you Kate."

She looked at him and smiled tracing her fingers along his jaw, "I missed you too, I think we have some making up to do for lost time."

"I think you're right."

"You _think_ I'm right?"

He grinned, one of those smiles that lit up his face and made his eyes crinkle. "Excuse me, you _are_ right." He took her hand and brought her into his office and closed the door, never bothering to turn on a light. There was a fire in the gas fireplace and quiet music playing. He handed her a glass of wine and slipped his hand under her shirt and pulling her close he kissed her, her breath caught as she caressed his chest with her free hand and then let it slide up to his neck and into his hair.

She pulled back and with her eyebrows raised she said, "No cameras or bugs in here?"

He chuckled. "Place has been debugged and definitely no cameras."

She kicked off her heels took another sip of her wine and placed the glass on the table and then reached up and put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "No vents that lead up to the bar?"

"No, not a one." He unbuttoned her shirt and slid it off her shoulders.

She started working on the buttons to his shirt. "No one can get in through the secret passages?" Her hands were on his chest and then maneuvering the shirt off, she tossed it onto the floor.

He kissed her neck and pulled her down on top of him onto the large leather couch. "No. Now stop talking and let me welcome you back properly."

She giggled and traced her tongue along his lips and whispered, "Yes sir."

_**A/N: so as I've said before, writing doesn't really come easy to me. The muse cooperates in random blurbs. That being said I do hope that at least some of you have been mildly entertained while we all wait with baited breath for the next episode of Castle, written by the real writers who write way better than me but don't always give us everything we want ;o) Hugs to you all and thanks again so very much for all your reviews and alerts, they are so much better than chocolate :o))**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Absolute nonsense and fluff ensues here. So very sorry I haven't updated in a bazillion days but the muse took off to warmer climates and left me to fend for myself. This is the third time I've written this chapter and I fear the Grammar Nazis will have a field day. **_

She hadn't planned on going to the loft but before she knew it she was unlocking the door. It was late. They hadn't had a case and Rick had left earlier in the day. She let herself in; the loft was dark except for a dim light in the kitchen. On the counter was a small plate of cookies with a note "For Kate, Love Alexis" underneath in Rick's handwriting was "and me too XO" she smiled and grabbed one of the cookies, they were oatmeal raisin, which where her favorite. She poured herself a glass of milk and was standing up against the counter when she heard him shuffle into the kitchen. She couldn't help but smile, his hair was sticking up all over the place, his road runner pajama bottoms were slung low on his hips and he wasn't wearing a shirt. He was adorable and yet even though she had seen him like this many times it still sent chills up her spine and other places too.

He smiled at her smiling at him. "You found your cookies?"

"I did."

"And are they good?"

"They are quite good, but not as yummy as you." She raised her eyebrows and smiled as he walked over towards her grinning and slipped his hands under her sweater placing them on her bare waist. She sucked in her breath at the contact. He placed a small kiss on her neck. He was surprised to see her here. She had been short with him earlier in the day and he had decided to leave and get some writing done. He pulled back and looked at her as she popped the rest of her cookie in her mouth. Her eyes were slightly red. He cocked his head and brushed her cheek with his thumb.

"You okay?"

She nodded. "Sorry about this morning." She looked away and put her arms up around his neck and then looked at him. "I thought I might be pregnant."

He was a little stunned, but seeing her face he pulled her in tight for a hug and just held her then placed a kiss on her forehead. "So, um I'm guessing that probably freaked you out just a little bit."

She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Just a little bit, but honestly my reaction to finding out that the test was negative freaked me out even more."

"Really?" He leaned in and kissed her. "I'm so sorry, Kate. I wish you would have told me."

"I know, I guess my reaction surprised me. I didn't realize that I wanted one, well at least not yet."

He kissed her cheek and then placed both of his hands on either side of her face and kissed her long and sweetly. "We can take care of that you know?"

She chuckled. "Well, I suppose we should be married before we try too hard."

He hugged her tighter. "Why Detective Beckett are you proposing?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "What if I were?"

He laughed and picked her up and set her on the counter. His face now even with her breasts, he laid his cheek against them and then looked up at her. "Then we would be ring shopping in the morning." He pulled her sweater up and undid the front closure on her bra.

She pulled his face away from her breasts and made him look at her. "I don't need a ring."

"Well, maybe you don't need one, but I'm sure you would like one." His hands were now where his face had been.

"I'm a simple girl; I don't want to attract attention."

"Afraid I'm going to buy you something big and gaudy?"

She slid down off the counter and pulled her sweater down.

He looked at her and pouted and then set his eyes back on her breasts. "What were we talking about?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "You were proposing to me."

He chuckled and continued to try to get back under her sweater, nibbling on her neck. "I do believe it was the other way around. I would not propose without a ring."

"Really? Her hands were toying with the top of his pajama bottoms. "I bet I can get you to propose without a ring."

He looked at her questioningly. "And how might you do that?"

"I have my ways." She moved up against him and started kissing his neck.

"Perhaps we should take this into the bedroom."

"Good plan, Romeo." She grabbed the drawstring to his pajamas and pulled it, leading him into the bedroom. It didn't take long for them to remove their clothes and it took even less time for her to get a proposal out of him.

Later they were lounging in each other's arms. He kissed her on the temple. "You didn't give me an answer you know."

"Do you really want one?"

"You know, I could have proposed to you months ago. But it occurred to me that might have something to do with why my first two marriages didn't work out….jumping the gun. I'm pretty sure I could marry you right this minute and it would last forever."

She ran her fingers up and down his chest and was quiet for a few seconds and then said "We should elope."

"I'll take that as a yes?"

She chuckled and kissed his chest. "How did we even get on this subject?"

"You started it."

"I don't think so."

"You did, you want little Castle babies."

Now she was giggling and burying her face in his chest.

He ran his fingers through her curls. "You know I will give you anything you want. Huge wedding with all the fixins', lots of little Castle babies, house on the Riviera, you name it, it's yours."

"No huge wedding and one baby _someday_ is sufficient. I'll think about the house…it's tempting."

"What? You don't want a big wedding?"

"Nope." She started yawning and reached up and kissed him. "Good night, Romeo."

He rolled over on top of her and she let out a loud "oof" he kissed her on the nose. "You can't fall sleep, we're not done with this conversation."

She kept her eyes closed and ran her fingers up and down his back. "What conversation. Were we talking about something important?"

"Yes, you were proposing."

"Hmmmmm….proposing what?"

"Marriage and children."

"Silly man." She let him kiss her and then tried to move him off of her but he wouldn't budge, she smiled and kissed him. "You're squishing me."

He chuckled and said "Hey. You know what?"

"Hmmmm?"

He moved his mouth up to her ear and sucked on her earlobe and then whispered. "I love you."

She smiled and opened her eyes and when his face was back in front of her she said "Love you more."

He kissed her until he had her moaning again. "Not possible, Detective, just not even possible."

_**So, I was thinking of ending this here. But I said that 13 chapters ago. I keep thinking you might all be getting bored with this however you keep reviewing and my gosh there are people all over the world reading and alerting and favoriting (not a real word I know). So, if I do decide to keep going I don't know how long it will take before I update. I doubt with close to three feet of snow in my yard and a foot more to come tomorrow that the muse is going to return in a hurry. Thanks again so very, very much for all your wonderful reviews, you have no idea how sane they are keeping me. Seriously…I'm a sad case.**_


	16. Chapter 16

_**So, um apparently you folks don't want me to give up on this. I was able to lure the muse back with the thirty plus reviews….seriously people? You are making my head swell to very unnecessary proportions. Just a little something here for Valentine's Day. Hope you enjoy.**_

_**Characters are not mine and never will be. :o(**_

She was at her desk, in a dark red turtleneck sweater and her hair pulled back into a loose knot at the nape of her neck, he was sitting in his chair. They actually did have a case, he was convinced it was the cousin and the boys were out collecting him.

"I have a proposition for you."

She looked over at him and then looked down with a shy smile and a quick eye roll. Looking back at her computer she said to him in a very quiet but stern voice, "Castle if you propose to me here, in this precinct, I will most definitely say 'no' and then take you down stairs and shoot you, and your daughter, your mother and the captain will all agree that it was justifiable homicide."

He gave her a wicked grin. "Duly noted Detective, however that is not what I was going to propose. I thought maybe we could go away this weekend. You do know what this weekend is don't you?"

"Yes, I do. Would we be bringing your daughter with us?"

"Um, no, I thought we could, um, well, your father, he um offered to ah stay at the loft with her."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Talk much Castle?" She leaned back in her chair and stared at him. "So you've already discussed this with my dad?"

"Yes, yes I have."

"And didn't I tell you that it is always better to discuss these things with me before you discuss them with my father?"

"Well, yes you did."

"But you went ahead and talked to him about it first."

"Um, well, I didn't want to get you all excited about a weekend away and then find out that Alexis had no place to go and no one to make sure that she and Ashley weren't doing um, you know, some of the same things we would be doing."

She looked at him with wide eyes. "Seriously Castle?"

"Maybe we could just stay home this weekend."

She leaned forward getting into his face. "What exactly did you have in mind? Some place warm? Where you could get me into a skimpy bikini?"

"Oh, well I was just thinking of going to the Hamptons. You know, quiet dinners, a nice walk on the beach?"

"A walk on the beach? In February? Not to mention all the snow. Not exactly warm and cozy."

"Well, there's the fireplace, we could hang out in our birthday suits in front of the fire and drink insane amounts of expensive wine."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Well, if you could go anywhere you wanted, where would you go?"

She started to smile and sat back in her seat and chewed on the inside of her bottom lip. "You'll take me anywhere?"

He smiled. "Yes." He watched her eyes light up.

She moved towards him and was about to speak when Esposito appeared in front of her desk.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

Startled, she looked at him and at the same time she and Castle both said, "Yes."

"Sorry, but I've got the cousin in the box."

She looked over at Castle. "We'll finish this conversation later."

"No, wait; just tell me where so I can make the arrangements."

She stood up and whispered into his ear, "How about we just spend the weekend in bed?"

He whispered back, "Well, that goes without saying, but where would you like that bed to be?"

"Yo, Beckett, you want this guy or should I take him?" Esposito said from across the room.

"Work, Castle."

Twenty minutes later she found Castle at her desk in _her_ chair furiously trying to make plans for a quick weekend away. She threw the file on the desk and plopped down in his chair. "Don't bother Castle, it wasn't the cousin."

He looked up at her "What? No way, it had to be him."

"He was working an extra shift. His supervisor verified it. We're back to square one on this case. I can't go away unless we close it."

Without looking up from his phone he said, "Esposito and Ryan can take over."

"No, they both put in for this weekend off weeks ago, it's you and me kid."

He looked up and smiled at her. "Okay, then we'll stay home and we'll get all dressed up and I'll take you out to a really classy restaurant."

"So we can be all over page six the next day?"

"Um, no. I won't let that happen. But if you want we can just go to _The Haunt_."

"Okay. Castle?"

"Hmmmm."

She leaned in and whispered to him. "Just because you're sleeping with me doesn't mean you get to sit in my chair."

He looked up with a shocked look on his face. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"That is _so_ not fair, I was sure that would be one of the perks."

She rolled her eyes and got up and went to the break room and came back with two coffees. He was still fooling around on his phone. "Castle what are you doin'?"

"Castle?"

"Hmmmmm?"

"Get. Out. Of. MY. Chair. _NOW_."

"Such a killjoy, Detective."

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

They had worked on the case all weekend finally cracking it late Sunday evening, by the time they were finished up with all the paper work they didn't end up back at his place until very late Sunday night, they'd slipped into bed and were asleep immediately. He heard Alexis get up and get ready for school and he tried to quietly extricate himself from Kate but she stirred and held on tight.

"Don't go." She wrapped her leg around his and scooted closer, she slid her arm across his chest and up around his neck and pulled him towards her and kissed him.

He kissed her lightly and whispered, "I'll be right back, I just want to say 'goodbye' to Alexis."

"Umhmm K."

He hugged her tight and kissed her cheek and then her forehead. "Hey, you need to let go, I'll be right back, I promise and we can spend the whole day right here, okay?"

She rolled away from him and reached out a hand, "Hurry up, it's cold in here." He squeezed her hand and slid out of bed, she giggled at his bed head hair and his conversation heart pajamas . He grabbed his robe on his way out of the room.

Alexis was sitting at the bar looking at a small frame. She looked up at her father smiling. "It's from Kate."

It was a picture of her with Kate and Martha in a group hug, in front of the Christmas tree, they were all laughing at him trying to figure out how to use Kate's camera. "I remember when you took this; we had so much fun that night." She looked up at him and he placed a kiss on her forehead. "Look, she made me cookies too." She held up a small cellophane bag with chocolate heart shaped cookies in it. "Is she awake? I made scones for breakfast. Can I go thank her?"

"Sure, I have something for you too." He handed her a small box. She smiled and opened it. It was a white gold bracelet with small blue beads. "Dad, it's so sweet, thank you." She held out her hand so he could put it on for her.

"Kate helped me pick it out."

She gave him a hug. "I'm really glad she's here, with you, with us."

"Yeah, me too Pumpkin." He placed a kiss on her head and hugged her tight.

She pulled back and smiled at him. "I'm going to bring her some breakfast."

She picked up a small plate and placed two cranberry orange, white chocolate heart shaped scones on it and made her a cup of coffee. She knocked quietly on the door and heard a slightly muffled "Yeah?"

She walked in gingerly. "Kate? Hey, I brought you some breakfast."

She sat up in bed and brushed her hair out of her face and smiled at Alexis. "You did?"

"Yeah."

She handed the mug and plate to Kate and sat on the side of the bed.

Kate took a sip from the coffee and smiled at Alexis, then placed the mug on the bedside table and picked up one of the scones. "You made these? This morning? What time did you get up? They smell wonderful and they're still warm." Kate was gushing she knew but she was slightly overwhelmed too. She took a bite and her eyes got wide. She got a little melancholy. This was exactly the kind of thing her mother would have done for her. "Alexis, these are wonderful, thank you." She reached over and wrapped her in a hug.

"Thank you for the picture, that was such a great night" She held out her wrist so she could see the bracelet. "And I love this too. Thank you."

Kate smiled. "You're welcome."

"Well, I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"Of course, what is it?"

"Winter Carnival is coming up and Ash asked me to go with him, but I need a dress and I thought maybe we could shop together for one, if you don't mind."

"I would love to. I'll check my schedule and maybe we could go one afternoon this week."

"Thanks Kate. Happy Valentine's Day."

"You too, Lex. Thank you, again." She placed a small kiss on her cheek and squeezed her hand and then Alexis got up and left. Kate took a deep breath and smiled.

She had just finished one of her scones and was sitting up in bed with her eyes closed when the door opened and Rick came in with two champagne flutes.

She raised her eyebrows and said, "What's this?"

"Raspberry Mimosas."

"Are we celebrating something?"

"Of course. Our first Valentine's Day together."

She smiled and took her glass as he slipped off his robe and climbed back into bed and snuggled up to her. He snaked one arm around her shoulders and kissed her and said, "Toast?"

She kissed him softly and nibbled on his bottom lip then cocked her head to the side. "Okay, what shall we toast?"

"Here's to spending every single Valentine's Day for the rest of our lives, drinking raspberry Mimosas, in bed together?"

She smiled and clinked her glass against his. "I think I could get very used to that."

They both took a sip from their glasses and she smiled and said "Oh, this is really good, do I get seconds?"

He chuckled and then leaned over and kissed her "Of course, although it is a little early to be drinking heavily."

She drained her glass and with a mouthful of raspberries she kissed him and said, "I plan on working it off and then sleeping for a _verrrry_ long time." She placed her glass on the bedside table and took his away from him and plucked the raspberries out of it.

He took it back and drained his glass and placed it aside and then pulled her down into the bed with him. Kissing her and trying to get his raspberries back. He started tickling her and she giggled and turned her face away from him. She swallowed the raspberries and tried to push him off of her but his arms were wrapped around her tight.

"What's the matter, Detective? You're not putting up much of a fight here."

She managed to get one of her arms free and traced her finger along his jaw and around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. "Maybe I don't have fighting in mind?"

"Oh, what is it that you do have in mind?"

"Oh, I think I might need another Mimosa to divulge that information."

"Hmmm top secret stuff?"He started to unbutton the infamous dress shirt of his that she had long since claimed as her own.

"Very top secret, and what do you think you are doing?"

"Just peeking."

"No opening presents until I get my second Mimosa."

He kissed her neck and nibbled on her ear lobe and then looked at her grinning. "There's a present under there for me?"

"Maybe."

"You know, if I leave to go get you another Mimosa then you'll get cold again."

"Nice try Romeo, maybe you'll just have to warm me up again."

He leaned in for another kiss, this time letting his mouth linger just a little bit longer and his tongue tracing her lips, she arched her back as his tongue found its way into her mouth, eliciting a small moan. He chuckled and continued his assault on her mouth, his hands working their way under her shirt.

She got leverage with her foot and within seconds had flipped him so she was on top. "Now Mr. Castle, what fun is it to spend the day in bed if you are not going to do as I ask?" She sat up so she was straddling him, leaning forward so her hands were on his chest; the ends of her disheveled curls were tickling his face.

His hands were on her hips and he was having a little difficulty breathing his eyes weren't quite focused. "You seriously want me to leave this bed right now and go get you more champagne?"

She let her fingers trail across his chest and then she bent down to kiss him, giving him a quick glance at what was under her shirt and cocked her head to the side. "Mmhmm. I do."

He groaned and pulled her hips onto his. "Kate, I'm not sure I can actually walk right now and was that something pink I saw under there?" He moved a hand toward the hem of the shirt and tried to pull it up.

She sat up straight and batted his hand away. "How about I give you another little peek and then you go get me some more raspberry champagne?"

"How about I get to see everything and after I get to take it off of you and have my way with you, then I go get us some more champagne?"

"Castle, when I am done with you, you most definitely will not be able to walk. Now you need to be a good little Romeo and do as you were told." She undid one more button and then bent down and kissed him once more and then rolled off of him.

"Um, Kate not only did I see pink, but I think I saw ruffles?"

She pushed him off the bed and he landed on the floor with a loud thud. She ruffled his hair and rolled back over under the covers.

He gingerly got up and made his way into the kitchen and within minutes he was back with two more raspberry Mimosas. The first thing he noticed was that the dress shirt she had been wearing was on the floor, the second thing was, that it appeared that she wasn't still in the bed, but it was hard to tell since the quilt was a mess. "Uh, Kate?"

He heard the door to the bathroom open and turned to see her poke her head out.

"Why don't you put those glasses down so you don't spill them?"

"Um, yeah." He placed them on the bedside table and when he turned around she was standing there in a very pale pink short cami that was trimmed with a delicate ruffle and very short boy short panties to match leaving about two inches of her very toned midriff bare. She walked over to him and he moved her curls to her back so he could get a better look. He traced his fingers over the thin straps and down her arms finally settling them on her waist. He placed light kisses on her neck and shoulder.

"I don't think I've ever seen you in pink before."

She moved her arms up around his neck. "You know, red and black are overdone this time of year. I thought you might like something different." She placed a feather light kiss on his lips and then reached behind him for their glasses and handed one to him.

"So same time, same place next year Mr. Castle?"

"Oh most definitely Ms. Beckett, only maybe next year you'll be Mrs. Castle." He looked at her with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

She smiled back at him and gave him a wicked grin. She touched her glass to his and said "I'll drink to that."

_**So, I actually have some of the date written, but it is just is a pile of nothing. So maybe the muse will come back in the next week or two and give me some suggestions.**_

_**And really, thank you all so, so very much for all your wonderful reviews and alerts and favorites. I'm sure you are not all as pathetic as I am and can find nothing better to do than read and review fanficiton…..but maybe you are? Kindred spirits…yes? I hope you all have someone wonderful to share this lovely day with. Hugs :o)**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**A/N: Look at this. Two chapters in two days! This is pretty much total fluff. But what else would you expect from me, right? Enjoy.**_

_**Nope…characters are not mine.**_

They had indeed spent the entire day in bed catching up on a little more than just sleep. Somehow they managed to polish off the rest of Alexis' scones, the raspberries and the champagne. They were curled up in his bed.

"Are you awake?"

"Hmmm nope."

"I have a present for you."

"You mean other than the adorably sexy underwear?"

"Yes."

She pulled a dark burgundy wrapped package out from under the bed and handed it to him.

He sat up and she leaned in beside him. "Hmmm a book?"

"Not a book, but it is a story of sorts."

"Really?" He opened the box to find a digital photo frame. He sat back and watched the story of Katherine Beckett in pictures. It started with pictures of her parents bringing her home from the hospital and went right up to present day, even the one she had just given Alexis. They sat there for almost 15 minutes just watching. He chuckled at some of them and pulled her in tight at some of the more recent ones of them together. He kissed her on the temple and pulled her closer and taking a deep breath he said, "I don't even know what to say. Thank you just doesn't seem like enough, this is…I don't even know, but most definitely, thank you for sharing this with me."

"Speechless huh?"

"Only you, Kate, only you." He held her tight for a few more minutes and then reached into the bedside drawer and handed her a small black box.

She sat up slowly and looked at him. "Rick?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No, not that. Open it."

She opened the small box and in it were a pair of heart shaped diamond earrings. She let out a long slow breath and biting her bottom lip she looked over at him with tears in her eyes. "These are really beautiful, thank you." She pulled him down into a hug and just held him.

After a few more minutes of cuddling he said, "I suppose we really should get out of bed and take showers so we can go to dinner."

"What time are the reservations for?"

"Seven."

"Hmmmm. I need to go back to my place."

"Why?"

"That's where my dress is. I'm assuming I need a dress for tonight. I highly doubt my pink ruffled underwear would be appropriate."

"You know of all the things I have imagined you wearing over the years, pink ruffles adorning your perfect derriere was not one of them."

She slapped his chest playfully. "Years, Castle? Really?"

"Yes, years."

"Well, I'm glad you liked the surprise."

He rolled over so he was facing her, their legs still entwined. He brushed her curls off her face and kissed her sweetly on the lips. "I loved the _surprises_ and I loved spending Valentine's day here, in this bed with you, drinking raspberry mimosas." He kissed her eyelids and the tip of her nose and traced his thumb along her cheek. "But more than anything, I love _you_."

"Yeah?"

He leaned in and kissed her "Oh, yeah."

She ran her fingers through his hair and very quietly said, "You are so much more than I thought you were going to be, more than I thought I would ever have in my life."

He pulled her close to him and held her tightly until she finally scooted out of bed taking his hand and pulling him with her. "Come on, let's grab a quick shower and then I'll head back to my place."

"Yes, a shower and dinner and more of this, right?"

"Riiiiight. Let's go Romeo."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

She went to answer the door in her little black dress, her hair up in a twist with loose tendrils along her face and neck and her make-up done. She was just putting the earrings in as she opened the door. She stopped and looked him up and down and almost dropped the earrings, she opened her mouth to speak and nothing came out. He stood there smiling in black dress slacks, a dark red shirt and a black tie, his hair slightly tousled.

He walked toward her and placed his hands on her hips and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "You look absolutely stunning."

She blushed and put her arms up around his neck and kissed him on the cheek and then rubbed off the lipstick mark. Finally finding her voice she came up with, "You're quite dashing yourself." She took a deep breath and turned away from him to locate her shoes.

He reached for her hand and gently pulled her back to him. "I have something for you."

She spun around, eyes wide. "You already had flowers delivered she pointed to the large bouquet of pink and red roses on her table. "And might I remind you of these really gorgeous earrings?" He took the earrings from her hand and brushed away the curls and put them in her ears for her and reached into his pocket and pulled out another black velvet box.

She looked a little alarmed. "Rick?"

"Open it."

She shook her head.

He smiled at her then opened it and pulled out a matching heart shaped diamond necklace and placed it on her neck. She gasped when she saw it. When she turned around she was smiling. "You really, really shouldn't have, but thank you."

"You're welcome." He kissed her and pulled her into a hug. "They are perfect with this dress." He kissed her neck and her earlobe and then totally screwed up her lipstick by kissing her.

She rolled her eyes at him and went to the mirror to fix her lipstick, she grabbed her shoes and he held her arm gently while she stepped into black pumps. He helped her into her coat and they headed out to his car.

They stopped in front of his bright red Ferrari. She looked at him. "This is your car?"

He smiled. "Yes."

She put out her hand. "I'm driving."

"Oh no you're not."

"You have to let me drive. I've always wanted to drive one of these."

"Well, there's a first time for everything, Detective and tonight is not the night you get to drive my car."

"Why? Give me one good reason why I can't drive."

He turned to her and kissed her lightly and said, "Because it's bad enough I have to look at you in that dress all evening. If I have to look at you in that dress, driving this car then we most definitely will not make it to the restaurant." He raised his eyebrows and opened the passenger door. "Milady."

She rolled her eyes at him, and made sure he caught a good look at her thigh as she very slowly slid into the car.

When he got in the car she was sitting there with her dress up to here and her long legs down to there and when she leaned in for a kiss his eyes traveled to her chest and he could see the swell of her breasts peeking out of the top of her little black dress. He looked into her eyes and she kissed him long and deep and when she finally released his lips from hers he whispered into her ear. "Woman you will be the death of me."

She let out a low chuckle and looked at him with a smile. "Drive Romeo or I will."

"Yes. Drive. Um….where did the keys go?" He started patting his jacket pockets.

She pulled her hand out of her pocket and let the keys dangle on her finger. "These keys?"

"Beckett."

"Yes, Castle?"

He reached for the keys and let out a deep sigh. This was going to be one hell of a night. He started up the car and put it in gear and caught a glimpse of her smile as she relaxed back into the seat and rested her hand lightly on his thigh.

"I think I might be getting too old for all this. I don't think my poor heart can handle much more tonight."

She let her hand slide up his thigh just a little. "Too old for what, Castle?"

"This, this." He looked at her and then down to her hand and back at her.

"Maybe you should have let me drive, then my hands wouldn't roam."

"So that's why you always get to drive, you're afraid you won't be able to keep your hands off me?"

"Oh, Castle, another layer of the Beckett onion peeled away."

_**I know, I know…still no date. But really how much more fluff can you handle in one day? The muse had had enough. I have a few ideas floating around so maybe in a few days something else will be posted. Don't hold your breath waiting though. Oh and just a reminder…there's no beta…just me fumbling along pretending I know what I am doing. And for Valentine's Day I got yarn instead of roses…..true love I tell you…..he's a keeper ;o)**_


	18. Chapter 18

_**So, this is the continuation of their Valentine's Day date. Sorry it took forever. Once again there is no beta, so mistakes are mine. Characters are not. Thanks so much to ChrisS for her suggestions. Enjoy and thanks again to all of you who read and review. You are seriously keeping me sane :o)))))**_

They were seated at a quiet table in the back of the restaurant, sipping wine and waiting for their food. He looked over at her smiling.

"What?"

"Now I know why I don't take you out more."

"Why is that?"

"Because, every guy in here and even some of the women are ogling you."

"And you are upset that you're not getting all of the attention."

He shook his head. "Hardly, I'm flattered really."

She smiled and while sipping her wine she slipped off one of her pumps and ran her foot along his leg.

He looked over at her and raised one eye. "You need to stop that right now, do you hear me?"

"You honestly don't think you can tell me what to do now do you?"

"Katherine Beckett I am insisting that you stop right this minute."

"Such harsh words Mr. Castle."

"Perhaps you would like to leave now and not enjoy that Chateaubriand we just ordered?"

She smiled at him and didn't say anything, just continued to run her foot up and down his leg and looking at him with a sly look on her face. "Are you going to let me drive home?"

"If you can behave yourself during the meal then I will consider letting you drive my car home."

"That's not exactly the answer I was looking for." She leaned forward and his eyes travelled to her chest again. "Like what you see there, Rick?"

"I'm just wondering what you have on under that dress."

She smiled and sat back. "If I tell you will you let me drive home?"

He just stared at her. "You are just not going to give up are you?"

She leaned in a little closer and whispered into his ear, "No, and the answer to your question is…. nothing." She nipped his ear with her teeth and then sat back in her chair.

"Nothing?"

"Absolutely nothing." She raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Oh, look our food is here."

He was pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to eat after learning that little piece of information however she replaced her shoe and they enjoyed their meal without any further conversation about underclothing or lack there of.

When he was almost finished she sat back in her seat and looked him the eye. "So, do the seats recline?"

He stared at her. "You are too much, you know that?"

She actually laughed at him. "I do know that, I tried to warn you."

"That you did, my love. That you did. Right from day one."

"So, do they?"

"Why would you need to know that information?"

"Surely you can figure that out."

"Why would you want to have your way with me in a car when we have a perfectly good bed for that?"

"This from the guy who rode through Central Park naked on a _borrowed_ police horse."

"Those were my wild days; I'd like to think they are over, besides you could hurt yourself."

"Oh, I doubt that."

He stood up and reached for her hand. "How about you dance with me and get your mind out of my pants?" He led her to the dance floor and wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her close. She placed her arm up around his neck and rested her cheek up against his and closed her eyes as they swayed to the music. They danced to old songs like Michael Bolton's _I said I Loved You but I Lied_ and Paul Mc Cartney's _Only My Love_. After what seemed like hours but was only minutes she dragged him off the dance floor and out of the restaurant. Somehow she managed to snag the keys out of his pocket while they were dancing.

He figured it was in his best interest to let her drive. At least her hands would be occupied. There wasn't much traffic and she drove the car as fast as she could get away with, smiling the whole time. He enjoyed watching her and for once she wasn't complaining. When she pulled the car into its assigned spot in the garage he jumped out of the car immediately and opened her door for her before she got any further ideas for the use of the Ferrari. He reached in to take her hand as she exited the car. She tried to pull him in and he let go.

"Kate, there are cameras all over this garage and we don't need to be the security guard's entertainment for the evening and most likely be the highlight of page 6 tomorrow."

She rolled her eyes and he took her hand again and helped her out of the car. She held onto his hand and led him to the elevators.

"Cameras in here too I suppose?"

"Yes."

"Hmmmm. I'll just have to wait until we get into the loft to have my wicked way with you."

He took a deep breath. "You know I've been thinking….."

"You can't propose to me in the elevator either."

"I wasn't goi…."

The elevator doors opened and she pulled him with her. She removed the keys from her pocket and used them to unlock the door to the loft. Once inside she slid her coat off and let it fall to the floor; she placed her hands inside his jacket and kissed him slowly.

Ashley and Alexis had arrived back at the loft after their date and he had offered to keep her company until her dad returned. They had put Taylor Swift's newest album on and were listening to it on repeat. They had been chatting about colleges and summer plans and one small kiss turned into a heated make-out session.

It didn't take long for Kate to hear the soft music of Taylor Swift. She opened her eyes mid kiss and saw Ashley and Alexis in the midst of their make-out session, her hair was all disheveled and her blouse was hanging off her shoulder, she couldn't see Ashley's hands and could only imagine where they were.

Kate placed her hands on Rick's face and he started to work on the zipper of her dress. She giggled loudly, hoping to get the teens attention.

"Rick?"

"Yes, Kate."

She looked over his shoulder again and saw the two teens move away from each other. Alexis was readjusting her blouse and Ashley was smoothing her hair back into place. Alexis looked at Kate with fear in her eyes.

"Um, I think we might have an audience."

Rick finally noticed the music and slowly turned around.

His daughter smiled at him. "Hey, Dad, Kate. Did you guys have a nice dinner?"

"Uh, yes, yes we did. Uh…you too?"

They smiled at each other. "Yeah, we did. It was perfect."

Ashley stood up and reached for Alexis' hand and they walked over to the door. "I should be going."

Kate looked at the two of them. "How are you getting home, Ashley?"

"Oh, I'll just get a cab."

Kate handed the keys to the Ferrari to Rick. "It's a little late for a cab. Why don't you take him home? Let him check out your car."

He looked at her like she was crazy. She glared at him.

"Oh. No Mam, that's fine, I'll be okay."

She rolled her eyes at him calling her Mam. "Don't be silly, Mr. Castle would love to take you home."

"Yes, I would. Let's go, shall we?"

Alexis walked with Ashley to the door and he placed a chaste kiss on her lips and whispered to her "I had a really great night. I'll text you later."

Alexis squeezed his hand and nodded. "Okay."

Rick left closing the door softly behind him. Kate picked up her coat from the floor and turned to hang it up. Alexis backed away to head upstairs and Kate grabbed her hand and led her to the kitchen. "Let's talk."

Alexis sat at one of the barstools while Kate poured two glasses of water and added lemon to them. She handed one to Alexis.

"What did you want to talk about?"

Kate reached over and moved Alexis' hair behind her ear and pulled her blouse away from her neck. "Well that for one."

Alexis turned bright red and moved her hand up to her neck. "A hickey?"

"Oh yeah, a good one too."

"Did Dad see it? He'll kill Ashley."

"I'm sure he didn't or there would have been more drama."

"I guess we just got carried away. I mean gosh, Kate. I didn't hear you guys come in, I didn't hear anything. I just…..didn't care." She raked her hand through her hair. "I'm not sure what would have happened if you guys hadn't come in when you did."

"Lex, I think you do know what would have happened."

She blew out a long breath and nodded. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Are you ready for that, Lex? For all the drama involved? You're still in high school. Kids find things out. And then, ultimately parents."

"I hadn't really thought about all that."

"I'm not saying there's anything wrong with going there, Lex. I just think you need to think with your head at this age and don't let your heart get ahead of you."

"Sounds like you've been there."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah and it wasn't pretty."

"I think my dad would freak out."

"He would, but he would get over it. He loves you and he knows you're growing up; you will always be his little girl though. Just make sure that's what you and Ash both want and that you're both ready to handle everything that goes along with it." She kissed her on the forehead. "Oh and just another piece of advice. The living room couch is never a good idea."

Alexis blushed again and rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Kate."

"You're welcome, Lex. Now let's go get some makeup on that love bite."

Alexis wrapped her arm around Kate's waist and they headed up the stairs.

"Nice dress by the way, Kate. Maybe I can borrow it some time."

Kate threw her head back and laughed and hugged Alexis closer to her. "I thought you liked me, Alexis. Your father would shoot me for sure."

Rick walked in the door and hung up his coat and turned off the lights. As he walked over to turn off the stereo, he saw Kate descending the stairs. She had taken her hair out and it fell in long curls around her face and shoulders.

She sauntered over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He took one of her hands and started dancing along to Taylor Swift. She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder.

"So are you going to tell me what that was all about?"

"Nothing really. Just thought it would be a nice thing for you to do. Did you have a nice chat?"

"He's terrified of me, Kate. We didn't talk much."

"He seems like a really nice, respectable guy."

"I think he is."

"Maybe we should get to know him better."

"Maybe. This is pretty sappy music."

Kate laughed. "It isn't any worse than what we were dancing to at the restaurant."

They swayed to the music for a few more minutes in the quiet glow of the fireplace and the city lights in the background.

She pulled her head off his shoulder and kissed his cheek. He opened his eyes. She kissed his lips, soft little pecks and then her tongue traced his lips, her hand in his hair. He deepened the kiss and brought his hand up from her waist and reached for the zipper on her dress.

She smiled into the kiss and pulled back. "Not so fast there, Mr. Castle."

She unlaced her hand from his and locked her hands together behind his neck.

He smiled at her. "This has been the best Valentine's Day ever."

"Yes, it certainly has." She leaned in and kissed him again. Not holding back this time. Pushing her body flush with his.

When they came up for air, she kissed him softly one more time. "I think it's about to get a whole lot better too."

He leaned in and whispered into her ear. "You've no idea."

For the second time that night she leaned her head back and let out a hearty laugh.

He laced his fingers through hers and led her upstairs, his other hand in his pocket wrapped around the small black box.

_***Big grin* Heehee….love and hugs…there's more to come!**_


	19. Chapter 19

_**So folks here it is, the conclusion to their Valentine's Day date. This is for all the wonderful folks over in CastleTV chat. Cook and NCISchick….just a word of caution, this should not be read during class…unless is a 'squee allowed' class. This is sappy and snarky and a lot more fluffy gibberish. I hope it meets your expectations. **_

_**Characters are not mine…..SIGH….**_

_From Chapter 18:_

_They swayed to the music for a few more minutes in the quiet glow of the fireplace and the city lights in the background._

_She pulled her head off his shoulder and kissed his cheek. He opened his eyes. She kissed his lips, soft little pecks and then her tongue traced his lips, her hand in his hair. He deepened the kiss and brought his hand up from her waist and reached for the zipper on her dress. _

_She smiled into the kiss and pulled back. "Not so fast there, Mr. Castle."_

_She unlaced her hand from his and locked her hands together behind his neck. _

_He smiled at her. "This has been the best Valentine's Day ever."_

"_Yes, it certainly has." She leaned in and kissed him again. Not holding back this time. Pushing her body flush with his. _

_When they came up for air, she kissed him softly one more time. "I think it is about to get a whole lot better."_

_He leaned in and whispered into her ear. "You've no idea."_

_For the second time that night she leaned her head back and let out a hearty laugh._

_He laced his fingers through hers and led her upstairs, his other hand in his pocket wrapped around the small black box. _

He led her into the bedroom and turned her so she was facing him; his hands settled lightly on her waist. "You know, I have seen what is under this dress many times, but the fact that you have nothing on under it is going to be my undoing."

"That was kind of the plan." She loosened his tie and unknotted it then started to undo the buttons of his shirt. "I think this is my new favorite shirt."

"Why do I get the feeling the only time I'm going to see this shirt again it will be on you?"

She kissed his chest and then moved to his mouth and kissed him deeply. "I've wanted to do that all night, you know."

She locked her hands around his neck and leaned into him and kissed him again. "You know after our first case. When you suggested we go out to dinner to debrief each other?"

"And you turned me down."

"Um hmm." She let her tongue trace his lips. "If you hadn't weaseled your way into my world I had actually given consideration to calling you and inviting you for a drink."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I knew you had a crush on me. All this time you made it look like I was trying to get you into my bed and it was you trying to seduce me."

"Well, I have to say I'm pretty happy with the way things played out. I wouldn't give up what we have right now for anything."

He pulled her in tight and kissed her and reached back and unzipped her dress. His hands caressed her back and slowly made their way up into her hair. He nuzzled her neck and sucked on her ear. He whispered softly, "There is something I would like to ask you before you completely turn me into an incoherent noob."

She chuckled and slid her arms down the front of his bare chest. He let his hands drift back to the bare skin on her back and let them settle on her waist. She kissed his chest and his neck and then whispered into his ear. "I'm a little busy right now and I can't think of anything you need to ask me that could possibly be more important than what I am trying to accomplish right now." She nibbled on his ear.

He moaned and kissed her, "I think maybe you are trying to avoid the question."

"I'm not trying to avoid it, it isn't necessary because it is a given."

He quirked an eyebrow at her and kissed her on the forehead. "You do know that I am hopelessly in love with you, right?"

"Oh I can assure the feeling is mutual Mr. Castle." She winked at him as she untucked his now unbuttoned red silk shirt from his pants. She ran her palms along his chest and kissed him lightly. She undid his belt and pulled it out of his pants. His hands remained at her waist; his eyes watching her face. She undid his pants and let them slide to the floor; he stepped out of them and slid her dress off of her shoulders; his heart stopped when she stood there smiling at him with indeed nothing on, she slid his shirt off and tossed it onto her side of the bed so she could wear it later. His hands travelled over her bare back, he placed feather soft kisses on her shoulder and made his way to her neck, his hands resting on her waist and sliding up until his thumbs came in contact with her breasts. She let out a small gasp and arched her back into him. He continued to pepper her body with kisses. Her hands were busy removing his red silk boxers and pushing him gently towards the bed. In one quick movement he placed an arm at the back of her legs and his other around her shoulders and picked her up and placed her on the bed. He leaned over her, bracing himself on one knee and hovering above her taking in her beauty. She was still smiling at him and reached up to pull him down on top of her, she wrapped her legs around his waist and one hand was around his neck and raking though his hair, the other was on his face, she kissed him furiously, moaning; both of them finally giving in to the passion they had been waiting all evening to unleash on each other.

Hours later, almost morning, the sun was just coming up and there was a soft glow in the room, he felt her stir. At some point during the night she ended up in his shirt and boxers. He had gotten up to don a pair of boxers for himself and slid the ring out the pocket of his pants.

He lay there thinking about the conversation he had with his daughter the week before.

"_Hey, Dad."_

"_Hey, Pumpkin."_

_She walked over to the couch in his study and sat down beside him. He was staring at a ring in a little black box._

"_That's really pretty. Is it for Kate?"_

"_Yeah, it's a replica of her mother's wedding ring. She used to wear hers around her neck on a chain all the time. She doesn't wear it anymore because she's afraid something will happen to it. She almost lost it when her apartment blew up."_

"_Is it for something special?"_

_He smiled at her. "She didn't want anything too fancy. I'm not sure she's ready for an engagement ring. Sometimes I think she is and maybe I'm not. What do you think?"_

"_Are you asking me for my permission to marry her?"_

"_Maybe."_

"_I think you're good for each other and you should be together. And I'm good with that."_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Yeah, I love Kate and I can't think of a better person to take care of you when I go to college next year."_

He smiled at the memory. He had been secretly dreading when she would be gone but having Kate with him would make it more bearable. He had even received Jim Beckett's blessing.

"_I want to thank you, Rick."_

"_For what, dinner?"_

"_No, for taking such good care of Katie; for making her smile. I haven't seen her this happy since Johanna's been gone. _

"_I've been meaning to talk to you about that."_

_He smiled at Rick. "I wondered when you would get around to that."_

"_Well, I'm not sure she's really ready."_

"_She'll never be ready. Don't be surprised if she does the asking."_

"_She sort of has in her roundabout way of not saying something."_

_He chuckled. "That's my Katie, doesn't surprise me one bit, you better jump on it before she changes her mind. You have my blessings and my couch when she gets mad at you. She has quite the temper sometimes. Just like her mother."_

_Rick smiled; he'd seen that temper and had been the brunt of her anger and frustration many a time. He could handle that. What he couldn't handle though was imagining a life without her._

She was wrapped around his body still sleeping mostly on top of him, her hair splayed across his chest; he had one arm holding her to him, his hand on her back under _his_ red silk shirt. His other hand held the ring; it was resting on his chest. He felt her stir and she lazily moved her hand over his, she went to lace her fingers through his hand, he turned his palm up so the ring didn't fall out. He squeezed her hand lightly. He gave her a minute to realize what he was doing and for it all to register in her hazy, sleep induced mind.

She wasn't quite ready to wake up. Her brain and body were still languishing in post lovemaking bliss. She startled slightly at the feel of the object in her palm. She knew the shape, but it felt different, but only slightly. Her heart skipped a beat or two or five then started racing, she immediately became overwhelmed with emotion. In some way she had been expecting this all evening. She wasn't prepared for the onslaught of emotions that consumed her. She felt tears sting her eyes and she so much didn't want to succumb to them, she wanted to give him what he wanted, what they both wanted but now she was the incoherent one. He knew though, he always did.

He caressed her back gently and very softly started speaking to her. "This is whatever you want it to be. It can be an engagement ring if you are ready, it can be a wedding ring right now or tomorrow or in ten years, it can just be a ring that says 'I love you more than life and I want you to be with me forever and I'll always be there for you'. If you want me to take you to Central Park and get on bended knee and do a proper proposal I will. More than anything I want you to know that it means I love you, I love you so, so much Kate and I just want us to remember how insanely happy, in love we are at this moment. And if you don't want to wear it that's okay too."

She squeezed his hand and didn't say anything, he heard her swallow, she leaned her head into his shoulder and he could feel her tears. He held her tight for a few moments and then she lifted her head and peppered his chest and neck and jaw with tiny little kisses, finally finding his mouth and continuing to kiss him. She rolled over on top of him and sat up, never letting go of his hand, she was straddling him, wearing his red silk shirt with only one button buttoned, he could see her bare midriff and the rolled down boxers, she took her free hand and raked it through her hair and smiled at him, her tears running freely down her face and falling on his chest. She very slowly opened her hand and looked at the ring for the first time, her eyes widened and she took in a deep breath and looked at him.

"It is a replica, made of platinum; it will withstand anything you do to it. It's not gaudy or too big.."

She whispered "It's perfect, it's just beautiful."

"I know how much your mom's ring means to you and how you don't wear it for fear of losing it or something happening to it. So I thought this would be a good idea." He reached up and brushed her hair behind her ear and wiped her tears away.

"Would you like to wear it?"

She rolled her eyes and a new set of tears started, she smiled and nodded her head.

"Would you like me to put it on for you?"

She smiled and nodded, and whispered "Please."

"Here?"

She nodded again.

He took the ring from her hand and kissed her palm where it had been, he smiled at her and held the ring in his right hand and held her left hand, he brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed it softly and said. "Katherine Johanna Beckett will you be mine, forever?"

She nodded her head and squeaked out a "Yes, yes I will."

He could feel his voice getting shaky; his eyes never leaving hers and he very quietly asked "Do you think maybe someday you would like to marry me?"

Smiling through tears she laughed at his hesitancy and rolled her eyes "Yes, Castle, yes. Yes I will marry you, you silly man."

He grinned like a baby and placed the ring on her finger and laced his fingers through hers. Her heart continued to beat erratically and she felt a feeling of contented warmth go through her whole body. She pulled him up to her and he sat with his legs crossed, she sat in his lap with her legs wrapped around his waist, she snaked her arms around his neck, he kissed her on the nose and the cheek; kissing her tears away. "Thank you, from the bottom of my quaking heart."

She kissed him and said, "Thank _you_." She leaned forward and hugging him tight she said, "I love you, so much."

"So much Kate, so very much." The last thing he heard was her muffled laughter before he covered her mouth and rendered her speechless once again.

_**So I know there have been a ton of proposals out there and I hope this satisfies those of you who have been waiting for this. Not sure if there is more to this story or not. I'm thinking a Lanie/Kate lunch might be coming up. Thank you all again for your wonderful reviews and alerts. This writing stuff is consuming me and I really should get back to real life stuff like the mountain of laundry in my basement. Oh and work….YIKES…I'm going to be late….Hugs :o)**_


	20. Chapter 20

_**I am soooo sorry this took sooooo long to update. I had really planned on stopping at the last chapter. This is in no way comparable to the last few chapters. There are a few more out there though so this is just a little filler of sorts to tide you over. It takes place the morning after their Valentine's Day date.**_

_**And of course the characters belong to the lovely Mr. Marlowe. **_

They eventually made it out to the living room. Curled up on the couch, she was still in his red silk shirt and his boxers, he was still wearing his conversation hearts pajama bottoms, she was resting her head in his lap, his hand was gently playing with her hair, the fireplace was glowing, and the gray outside was not dampening their mood. Her phone buzzed, but she didn't move to answer it.

"You want me to get that for you?"

She shook her head and mumbled, "nnoo."

It buzzed again. She sighed and reached for it, "Just Lanie." She rolled onto her back, resting the phone on her chest and closing her eyes.

"What does she want? Creepy body?"

She handed the phone to him.

He checked the messages. "She wants to meet you for lunch. Do you want me to text her back and tell her you'll meet her somewhere? Or she could come here?"

"Nope."

"Are you mad at her?"

"No."

"Okaaay." He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head.

She sighed and laced her fingers with his, smiling at the ring on her finger, her belly doing little flip flops every time she saw it. "Lunch would require a shower, appropriate clothing and coherent conversation, none of which I am capable of at the moment, no thanks to you."

"Anytime, Detective, glad to be of service." He leaned down and kissed her.

She pulled him down on top of her.

"You're turning me into a contortionist."

She chuckled and worked her tongue into his mouth, and slid her hands into the back of his pajama bottoms.

"You know where you're going to end up if you keep this up, don't you?"

"Something wrong with that?"

"Not at all."

"I think we should go take a….." Now her phone was ringing. She saw that it was Lanie again and let it go to voicemail.

"We could meet them at the Old Haunt later if you'd like."

"I like what I am doing right now."

"Well, so do I, but you're going to have to talk to her sooner or later."

"Later is better."

"Why?"

"She always wants details and I don't want to share yet."

"Ahhhh. Okay."

"I never get to be lazy. Today I want to bask in laziness and bliss." She put her hand out, displaying her ring, and smiled up at him.

He took her hand and kissed it. "Sounds like the perfect way to spend a cold winter day."

"That's one of the things I love about you."

"What's that? That I always agree with you?"

"Well, there's that and that you enable my laziness."

"I would never consider you a lazy person."

"You bring me mimosas in bed."

"Once."

"You feed me."

"True."

"You know what I want to do right now?"

"Well, I think I do."

"We should, right now."

"Here, on the couch?"

She looked at him questioningly. "What? No. Not that. Is that all you ever think about?"

"Well considering you just had your tongue in my mouth and your hands in my pan…"

She slapped him on the chest as best she could with him on top of her."

"We should elope."

"You know you've said that before and I'm going to have to say no to you."

"What? You said whatever I want."

"Yes, but as the father of a daughter I cannot deny your father the walk down the aisle."

"Pshhh…he won't care."

His eyes got wide. "Oh, trust me Kate, he cares. He cares very much."

"Nope, he'll be happy for me whatever I do."

"Ok, call him and tell him you're eloping."

"Seriously Castle, you don't tell people you're eloping that's the whole idea, to surprise everyone."

"So you don't even want Lanie or the boys to know?"

She sighed heavily, he moved over so he was facing her and not on top of her. She kissed him; he nuzzled his face in her neck, his fingers running through her hair and getting caught in the curls.

"Kate, when was the last time you brushed your hair."

"Are you complaining, sir?"

"Not at all. Just thinking maybe, we should take a shower. Together. Again."

"You're avoiding the subject."

"What subject was that?"

"Eloping."

"Oh, that. Yes, I am avoiding that. You have to have your father's permission."

"I do not."

"Yes, you do."

"You're not the boss of me." She worked her mouth on his neck; her hands were edging back towards his pants.

His hand was under her shirt and caressing her ribs and moving towards her breast. "I am not now , nor will I ever be the boss of you, however you can't marry me if I don't sign the marriage license and I will do no such thing without your father's permission."

She stopped her ministrations on his neck, placed both hands on his chest, and pushed him off the couch. "Pshh….take that Mr. Castle." She then rolled onto her back and crossed both arms over her chest.

Castle sat up slightly stunned and looked at her wide-eyed. "Oh my goodness, this is a first. I think the strong and unflappable Detective Beckett is pouting."

"I'm not talking to you."

He moved closer to the couch and ran his hands up and down her legs. "So why do you want this so bad?"

She looked away from him and closed her eyes.

"Fine, be that way. I'll tell you why I don't want to do it that way."

She continued to keep her eyes closed and her arms crossed. He knew she was listening though.

"My first marriage was in the city clerk's office by a JP. My second had more people at it than all of my college and high school graduations together, I only knew a handful of people well enough to say so. Neither of them were very momentous occasions for me. I want to see you, in a gorgeous dress, walk down the aisle with your father, your father who is alive today because of you, your father who adores you, who deserves this."

He continued to caress her legs, inching closer and closer to the edge of her boxers. "I get that you don't like to shop for dresses, I get that you don't want this all over page six, that you are a _very_ private person. We can do this quietly and only invite the people we both love and care a lot about." His voice softened and he took her hand in his. "There's a compromise here, too, if you want to be together right off you could just move in."

She whipped her head around and said, "I'm not that kind of girl, Castle."

"Excuse me? What kind of girl?"

"You know, the kind of girl that lives with her boyfriend before they get married."

He raised an eyebrow and crinkled up his face. "So if we did elope, you would be ready to move in right away?"

"Yes."

"Okay, here's the deal Sleeping Beauty, small church, your dad, my mother, my daughter and the Brady Bunch from the 12th."

"The who?"

"Just Montgomery and his wife, Ryan and Jenny, and Esplanie, a small reception at the Old Haunt, no publishers, nobody else."

"But I have to wear a dress?"

"A wedding dress."

She rolled her eyes. "You'll have to go pick it out."

"Beckeeeettt. I can't see the dress before the wedding. Come on, you cannot seriously tell me you haven't' dreamed of wearing a wedding dress. If I know you, and I think I do, you know exactly what you want it to look like too."

"But if I go shopping for a dress it'll be all over page six."

"I know a guy."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course you do."

"Seriously, Kate. You, my mother, and Alexis can go online and see what you like from his shop and I'll have them delivered."

"Lanie will kill me."

"Probably."

She got a pensive look on her face and then sat up and said, "Oh my gosh...I wonder if..." She flew off the couch jumping over him on the floor, grabbed her phone, and sent a text to Alexis. Then she called her dad, letting him know that she and Alexis would be there later. Castle was pouting and mouthing 'What about me?' Her dad asked about Rick so she acquiesced and after a few eye rolls she reassured him that they were all fine and would be there in a few hours. She closed the phone and took Rick's hand. "Come on Prince Charming, we need showers, there's work to be done." She pulled him up from the floor and led him to the bathroom, she turned on the shower and said..."You first."

"What? No sharsies?"

"No."

He pouted and started moving towards her. "After all that on the couch you're not going to…"

"No." She shoved him towards the shower, pulled off his pajama bottoms, and slapped his behind. "Get in and no dilly dallying, we have things to do."

Her phone trilled and she looked at the text from Alexis letting her know that she would be done for the day by one.

She sent her a quick text_,_ set the phone down, ripped off her clothes, then she reached into the shower and pulled out her shampoo and placed a quick kiss on his lips and grabbed the robe hanging behind the bathroom door, as she was leaving she heard him groan out "Beckeeeeetttt." She smiled and shook her head and took off to take a shower in one of the other bathrooms.

When she came back in the bedroom in nothing but his robe, he was only wearing a pair of jeans. He moved towards her again.

"Rick, _No_."

She was rummaging through the closet looking for a clean shirt. "I don't have any clean clothes here?"

He came up behind her and placed his hands on her waist and whispered into her ear."Yes, you do."

"Where?"

He pointed to the other closet, then wrapped his arms around her middle and pulled her in tight, his lips on her neck.

She sighed and moved her head to make room for his mouth. "Why are they in that closet?"

He kissed her neck a few more times then ran his tongue up to her ear and sucked on her earlobe. "Because I cleaned it out for you."

She swallowed and tried to move out of his hold. "You did?"

"Umhmmm."

She turned around, he held her tight. She placed her arms around his neck and kissed him. "That was really sweet, thank you." She let her hands trail down his chest and reached for the button on his jeans, he moaned and loosened his grip on her. She took her chances, turned out of his grasp, grabbed for the closet door, slid in, and locked it.

"Beckett, that is _so_ not cool." He pounded on the door. "Come on, just a quickie."

From inside the closet he heard her giggle. "No. Alexis is waiting for us." A few moments later, she popped her head out of the closet. "You could make me some coffee though." She blew him a kiss. "Please?"

"Yeah, sure. Right after I take _another_ cold shower." He took off for the kitchen and when he came back, she was in the bathroom in a pair of jeans and a dark green sweater. She applied some moisturizer and lipstick and ran her fingers through her damp hair with a little bit of gel and blew it dry for few minutes. The result was very tousled curls.

He placed her coffee on the counter and stood in the door watching her take care of her daily routine.

"Creepy, Castle."

"Get used to it, Beckett." He walked over and kissed her on the cheek and grabbed her bottom, she rolled her eyes and picked up her coffee with one hand and took his hand in her other and led him out to the kitchen.

"So when are you going to tell me what this is all about?"

"You'll find out soon enough." She leaned up on her tiptoes, kissed him, and whispered into his ear, "and if you're a really good boy, maybe I'll show you my old bedroom." She winked at him and pulled the keys out of his hand and left him there staring at her.

"You coming Castle, or what?"

_**So, the good news is that **_**most**_** of the next chapter is written. Thanks for sticking with this story and all your awesome reviews and alerts and favorites. Beeeg Hugs to you all :o)**_


	21. Chapter 21

_**Sincere apologies for how long this took. I hate it when real life interferes with my Castle obsession. Thanks for hanging in there. **_

_**Characters are not mine. **_

Kate was laughing as she and Alexis were coming out of the school building. Alexis went to grab her hand and saw the ring. She spun around and looked at Kate.

"He gave it to you."

"He did."

"Did you say 'yes'?"

"I did."

"Did he cry?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "That would be me, like a baby. He handled it better than I did."

"Oh my God, "I'm so happy for you guys." She pulled her into a hug. "You have to tell me everything" She looked at Kate's wide eyes. "Well maybe not _everything_."

"I will, I promise, but right now we have to tell my dad and I thought we'd see what my mom's wedding dress looks like. And there's a few of my old prom dresses that you might like, if you want, if you hate them it's okay and we can still go shopping."

Alexis had a ridiculous grin on her face. "I can't wait to see them; does Dad know that's what we're doing?"

"Of course not."

Rick smiled as he watched the two of them from the car. Alexis climbed into the back seat, reached up, and gave him a hug.

When they got to Jim's they could see Jack jumping in the window. Jim let him out the front door and Alexis ran up to the little Jack Russell, picked him up, and hugged him. Jim let them all in, hugging Alexis and shaking hands with Rick and then pulled his daughter into a big bear hug.

"So, what's this impromptu visit all about?"

"I have to have a reason to visit my father?"

"With your boyfriend _and_ his daughter in the middle of the week. Yes." He smiled and said, "So, did you have a nice Valentine's Day?"

She grinned. "You know I did."

He pulled her left hand from around his neck and checked out the ring. Rick and Alexis watched from the other side of the room. Alexis leaned back into her father and Rick wrapped his arms around her. The dog having squirmed his way out of her arms as soon as they got into the house.

Jim sucked in his breath when he saw the ring; he looked over at Rick and smiled. His eyes misted up and he hugged his daughter tight. "He's a good man, Katie."

She looked over at Rick and then back at her father. "I know, Daddy, I know."

"It's still in your closet."

She rolled her eyes and smiled. She shook her head and then hugged him tight again. He rocked back and forth with her like that for a few moments and then pushed her away. "So when's the big day?"

"Soon." She looked over at Rick.

Her father arched an eyebrow and said, "Any reason you're rushing this?"

She smiled and said, "No." She grabbed Alexis' hand and headed upstairs to her old bedroom.

Rick stopped her and Kate leaned in, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and whispered into his ear, "I'll take care of you in a few minutes."

"Did you forget why we're here?"

"Of course not, Alexis and I are going to check out some of my old dresses."

"Kate, you have something you need to discuss with your father."

"Oh….really?...hmmmmm I can't remember what it is." She glared at him suggesting that he keep his mouth shut. "I'm sure you can handle a little visit with my dad while we go look at dresses." She scooted up the stairs with Alexis in tow.

"What's she up to, Rick?"

"Um…I don't believe I'm at liberty to discuss that with you. Sir."

"Oh, I see. So I have to play the guessing game and even if I guess right you aren't allowed to tell me if I'm close."

"That would be correct. Sir."

"Okay, so she's obviously getting her mother's wedding dress and she wants to get married soon, and if I know Katie like I know Katie she doesn't want to make a scene so she's planning on eloping." He never stopped looking at Rick. "Isn't it amazing how well we know our daughters?"

"Yes, sir."

"As a father yourself though I can trust you are _not_ going to let her do this, right Rick?"

He looked up the stairs and then back at Jim. "I've suggested strongly that we have something very small with immediate family only."

"And?"

"Well, as you said, Sir, you know Katie."

"She's going to do as she damn well pleases. Well, Rick good luck with this, I'll tell you right now though, one dad to another, I'm going to be _very_ and I mean _very_ upset with you if you can't sway her on this."

"You do know she carries a gun?"

Jim chuckled, and went over and gave him a hearty pat on the back. "Consider it your Jim Beckett hazing."

"Great….just great."

Kate opened the door to her bedroom and they walked in. Alexis felt like she was opening Pandora's Box. The room was bright and sparse, a double bed, maple dresser and a desk. The walls were a pale dusky blue with a few pieces of art on the walls. There was a window seat with a bench done in denim and the entire wall surrounding it was bookshelves. The curtains were white and breezy and the quilt was shades of blue and looked handmade.

Alexis continued to take in the room while Kate poked around in the back of her walk in closet, when she came out she saw Alexis looking at photos on her desk.

Kate tossed an armload of dresses on the bed, walked over to Alexis; she was holding a photo of Kate and her parents and a cute guy with black spiky hair and a nose ring. "Oooh Senior prom."

"He's kind of cute."

"Yeah, I think he's in prison now."

Alexis looked shocked. "Really?"

"Yeah, he was from my wilder days."

Alexis looked around the room. "This doesn't look like the room of a wild child."

Kate chuckled. "No, my dad redid the room after I left home. I don't have too many relatives but when they come to visit they wouldn't stay here with the black walls and psychedelic colors and funky art. I pretty much destroyed the place."

"I hope I get to hear all those stories of your wild days."

"Hah…..you're father would shoot _me_."

"Well, we just won't tell him."

Kate smiled in mock shock. "_Alexis!"_

She rolled her eyes in response and laughed at Kate's antics as she started to go through the dresses on the bed.

"Why don't you look through those and see if there's anything you like, I won't blame you if you don't, they're pretty hideous…I don't know what I was thinking."

Alexis sorted through the dresses; some she immediately tossed aside giggling at the colors and style, but she did find one that was light green, tea length, and gauzy. She was pulling off her school sweater so she could try it on when Kate came out of the closet with what she assumed was her mother's wedding gown, still in a garment bag. Her eyes were misty. She tossed it on the bed and sat down in the window seat. "You know what Lex, I don't know if this is such a good idea after all."

Alexis stopped still. She swallowed and softly said, "What isn't a good idea, Kate?" She sat on the window seat with her and took her hand. "Marrying my dad, or wearing your mom's dress?"

Kate looked at her briefly with a furrowed brow. "I guess it's all just a little overwhelming." She looked at the dress still in Alexis' arms. "That will look gorgeous on you. I have a scarf that will work as a wrap that will look great with it. Do you want to try it on?"

They were interrupted by a call up the stairs. "Hey, Lexi Lou, Jack needs a walk, you coming or what? We have to walk right by the ice cream parlor."

Kate smiled and pushed Alexis. "Go. Make an old man happy." She squeezed her hand and sent her off.

"Will you be okay?"

"Yeah, thanks Lex."

Jim held the door open for her at the bottom of the stairs. She looked over at her father on the couch, looked upstairs, then back to him, and nodded her head towards the stairs.

Rick nodded his understanding and said, "Hey, make sure you bring some back for us." He watched them go down the drive and then ascended the stairs. He saw her sitting in the window, one leg up with her chin resting on her knee. He sat behind her and wrapped his arms around her, she leaned into him, and they watched her father and his daughter laughing at Jack as he tried to chase a neighbor's cat while still on his leash.

He placed a kiss on the top of her head. "You okay?"

She sighed. "I wanted to wear my mom's wedding dress. I got a little overwhelmed once I saw it. I started thinking about how upset my dad would be and Lanie and everything else." She sighed again and he tightened his arms tighter around her.

"Well, maybe you just need a little more time to process it all; I'm not going anywhere, Kate. When you are ready, we'll do it, on your terms. I'll keep the press away as best I can." He kissed her neck. "And your father is on to you, by the way. I'm out before I'm in if I can't sway your decision."

She chuckled, turned her head, and kissed him. "Don't tell me you're afraid of my dad? He's a pussycat."

He was pulling her sweater down off her shoulder and kissing her again. "More like a mountain lion."

She giggled into his kisses. "Did you come up here to collect on your quickie?"

He chuckled. "Are you trying to get me killed before we even get married?"

"They'll be gone for awhile, we have plenty of time." She turned so she could wrap her legs around his waist, her hands worked on the buttons of his shirt.

"I feel like I'm back in high school."

"Well, I hope you have condoms in your wallet Mr. Class clown, cause there sure aren't any up here."

"I never leave home without them."

She smiled as she pushed him back onto the window seat, nearly toppling them both over the edge.

"This is not going to work, Kate."

"You're probably right, not to mention we're sitting in a window in the middle of suburbia." She crawled off him and took his hand, using the other to pull down the shades. She took the garment bag with her mother's dress, draped it over the desk chair, and tossed the rest of the dresses onto the window seat. In one swift move she pulled the quilt down, pushed him onto the bed, and started to undo the button on his jeans.

"Jeez, Kate, you weren't kidding about a quickie."

"What's a matter, Rick need some more…."

"No, I don't." He kicked off his shoes and pulled her sweater over her head and undid her bra, she hopped off the bed and laughed at his stricken face.

"I'm just locking the door, it doesn't close tight, and if Jack comes up he'll push it open."

He continued removing his clothes and was now standing in just his boxers. "I thought you said we had plenty of time."

She was in front of him sliding down her own pants. "Well, just in case I get carried away." She dragged her tongue along the edge of his boxers and then pulled them down with her teeth. He pulled her back up and she grinned. "You know how I can get."

He took in a deep breath as her hands worked their way below his waist. "Yes, Kate, I do know how you can get."

He gently pushed her onto the bed. "This is a very small bed."

She kissed him hard and wrapped her legs around his waist. "And you are a _very_ big man." She flipped him over onto his back.

"I'm a very dead man if you don't let me get to the task at hand."

"I'm just savoring the moment; I've never done this here." She sat up on top of him and slowly dragged her fingers along his ribs sending shivers up his spine.

"You've been teasing me all day." He tried to grab her hands and pull her towards him. "You are driving me out of my mind, woman."

She laughed aloud as she ground her hips on top of him and stifled his groan with a kiss, and then whispered into his ear, "Payback's a bitch huh?"

_**Given all the sneak peeks and hoopla over the finale I thought we could use something light and fluffy. Hope you enjoy ;o) **_


	22. Chapter 22

_**Once again, I apologize for the amount of time it took to update this story. I would like to thank all my good friends in chat for their suggestions to keep this story going. Beeeg hugs to all of you. **_

_**Disclaimer: No characters are not mine.**_

They had spent the afternoon with her dad and Alexis, looking at old pictures, eating take out and avoiding the subject of the impending wedding. After dropping Alexis off with friends, they headed to the Old Haunt to meet up with the gang from the twelfth and let them in on their news.

They walked into the Old Haunt and went to the bar to order drinks. Rick started talking to the bartender, and a moment later Esposito came up beside her. She reached for her drink and he slipped his hand under hers, looked at her, and smiled.

She squeezed his hand, bit her bottom lip, and looked at him. "Hey."

"Is this why we're here tonight?" He said as he looked down at the ring.

She nodded.

He kissed her on the cheek and said, "I'm really happy for you."

She smiled and leaned in to him as he placed his arm around her. "Thank you. You do realize though that Lanie is going to be very upset that you found out before she did."

"Don't you worry about Lanie; I'll take care of _mi chica_."

Rick walked over to the table where Ryan and Jenny were sitting and Lanie came up to him. "So, Castle, why is my boy getting all cozy with your girl over there? Something you want to share with the class?"

He looked at her with raised eyebrows. "No?"

"Is he lookin' at what I think he's lookin' at."

"Maybe?"

"Damn." She pulled him into a big bear hug.

He hugged her back and asked, "So how much did you lose?"

"It's not how much it's what."

"Oh."

"And, no I am not telling you. So when is the big day?"

"Not sure, I just barely talked her out of eloping and not letting any of you know until it was all over."

"Good man, Castle, she always said she was going to elope. Especially after all the fussin' that went on with Ryan's wedding. Me, I want the whole shebang, bring it on."

"Not really Kate's style."

"No, you're right, I'm happy for you. She deserves it."

"That she does, I just hope I don't disappoint her."

"You are one very dead man if you do, you know that don't you?"

"I, do Lanie, yes I do."

Kate and Esposito walked over to the table and Lanie gave her a big hug and said, "We won't discuss the fact that he found out before I did."

"It wasn't planned that way, honestly Lanie."

"No, I heard Castle here talked you out of eloping."

"He thinks he did."

"Girlfriend, you do not want to know how pissed I will be if you get married without me. So when do we go dress shopping?"

"Yeah, about that." They walked over to the table with Ryan and Jenny and spent the rest of the evening celebrating and listening to all sorts of suggestions for wedding plans that Kate had no intentions of implementing.

A week later Castle walked into the bullpen. Kate was sitting at her desk and he handed her a coffee and a pastry bag containing a white chocolate raspberry scone.

"You must want something."

"Why would you say that? I can't bring my fiancé breakfast?"

She smiled and moved slightly closer. "Considering you brought me breakfast in bed just a few hours ago."

"Ah, yes, my memory was slightly clouded from the after breakfast activities."

She blushed and turned back to her scone. "Spill, Castle."

He looked over at her and said, "I know you don't want to deal with the details of the wedding, but there are a few things I thought you should have some input on."

"I don't think we need to have that conversation here _or_ now."

"Well, you seem to find a way to distract me any other time I've brought it up."

She tried not to smile. This was true. She had managed to avoid discussing it by using distraction. "Fine, I'll give you a few minutes." Without looking away from her computer, she asked. "What details?"

"Reception hall?"

"The Old Haunt."

"Seriously?"

She continued to type. "Seriously."

"Um, Kate?"

She glared at him shooting daggers with her stare. "The. Old. Haunt. Next question."

"Right, we need to do a cake testing, soon, very soon."

"No."

"Kate."

"Chocolate ice cream."

"But don't you want…"

"No."

"Just ...?"

"Yes."

"What color are the bridesmaid's dresses?"

She looked at him as if he had three heads. "I have no idea, ask Lanie."

This was going to be harder than he thought.

"How about food?"

"Whatever they serve at the Old Haunt is fine."

"But they only serve appetizers."

"That works for me."

"We can't expect to feed our guest appetizers."

"And ice cream and drinks. They'll live. Any more questions?"

"How about a honeymoon?"

"You mean like where?"

"Well, that and how much time can you take off?"

She sat back in her chair to contemplate this. "How long can you leave Alexis with your mother?"

He swallowed and leaned forward. "Realistically? A few hours."

She chuckled. "Then that will be fine."

"However she is going to Stanford for a summer program for six weeks."

"With Ashley?"

"I didn't ask."

"Good boy, I'm proud of you. She'll be fine. "

"I'm counting on you to keep me distracted."

"I can do that." She smiled and reached over to squeeze his hand. "I'll take two weeks off."

"You will?"

"Yes, I only have one week of vacation time left though so the other week will be without pay." She turned back to her computer and grinned. "You may get stuck paying some of my bills."

He had a ridiculously silly grin on his face as he reached into his wallet and pulled out a credit card and handed it to her. "All yours, you can't max it out, buy whatever you want. All of it Kate, it's yours."

"Wow, Castle you must really like me, you're giving me your credit card before we even get married." She rolled her eyes but didn't reach to take the card. "I was kidding, Rick."

"I'm not."

"I'm not taking your credit card. I have my own money. However if I get in a bind, I'll know who to call."

He put it back in his wallet. "You continue to amaze me every day."

"Go make wedding plans before I insist we elope. I really need to get this paperwork done."

"I'm not done yet, what about invitations?"

"Castle, the only people that we are inviting to the wedding are in it."

"What about the reception?"

"I don't care who comes to the reception."

"I think there are people from the precinct who might like to be there."

"So put up a notice."

"Kate."

"Rick."

He sighed. "Okay how about flowers?"

She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose."

"I'm sorry, we'll do this later." He started to leave and she grabbed his shirtsleeve.

"Daisies and roses from my mom's flower garden in the back yard." She stood up and turned her computer off. She wrapped her hand around his arm and led him out of the precinct.

"Where are we going?"

She kept walking, ignoring the looks they were getting from the other officers. Once they were in the elevator, he looked over at her.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No."

"Are you annoyed with me?"

"No."

"I don't believe you. Where are we going?"

"I need chocolate."

"Well we could go have some chocolate cake at…."

"Shut up, Castle."

"Right."

She tugged him along with her as they left the precinct; she pulled out her cell and typed out a rather lengthy message and then turned it off and put it back in her pocket.

"Kate, what are you up to?"

"What makes you think I am up to something?"

"I know you, and you are most definitely up to something."

"Focus Castle, I need chocolate, now." They walked towards the park and stopped at an ice cream vendor and she asked for two rocky road cones. When Castle was done paying for them she handed his to him. His phone started to buzz in his pocket and she stopped short and put her hand on his chest.

"Give it to me, Castle."

He started to hand her his cone and she rolled her eyes and reached into his jeans pocket to pull out the phone.

"Kate, what the he…."

She smiled slyly and slowly pulled the phone out of his pocket, it trilled again with another message and then another, she looked at the messages, quickly turning around and around to avoid Castle from seeing them. Once she saw the one from her father and Alexis she sent a quick reply, turned off the phone, and slid it into her own pocket.

She walked ahead of him.

He pulled on her shirt and she kept walking. "Katherine Beckett!"

She threw her head back, chuckled, and walked a little faster.

He ran and caught up to her, standing in front of her. "Phone, now. What if my daughter needs me?"

"She's fine Castle, don't be such a drama queen."

"Are you doing what I think you are doing? Because if you are...I will not participate...I hope you know I am dead serious about this. I'll leave you stranded."

Not taking her eyes off his, she licked her ice cream. "No you won't."

He pulled the ice cream out of her mouth to stop her distracting maneuver.

She smiled and leaned in to him and traced his lips with her tongue, she relinquished the cone to him and placed her arms around his neck and kissed him, soft sweet kisses at first and then deepened the kiss, eliciting a groan from Castle as he pulled away.

He handed her cone back to her and traced his finger along her jaw. "I know what you are trying to do Kate and I won't be swayed. I won't."

He kissed her on the forehead and Kate smiled and whispered into his ear, "Well, where's the fun in that?"

_**A/N: Okay, I am seriously thinking there will only be one more chapter to this story. This isn't exactly a stellar chapter but I have been working on it for at least six weeks and I'm afraid this is as good as it is going to get. Real life has slowed down some but is still rather crazy. Thank you all so much for sticking with this story.**_


	23. Chapter 23

_**Apparently my family doesn't take too kindly to being neglected. Who would have thunk? Hmmmppph….**_

_**I am not familiar with parks in NYC so let's just pretend, okay? Thanks ;o)**_

_**Characters are not mine. Much thanks to the wonderful Mr. Marlowe and Co. **_

Their ice creams finally eaten they continued to walk through the park when Kate stopped in front of a small chapel.

"What's this?"

"This is it."

"Here?"

"Yes"

"Now?"

She smiled and turned to kiss him. "No. Saturday at 11."

"This Saturday?" His hands were on her hips, pulling her in for another kiss.

She draped her arms around his neck loosely and kissed the corner of his mouth grabbing the small amount of rocky road with her tongue. "Ummmhmmm...Yes."

"That is _sooo_ not going to work."

"You have something more important going on?"

"We need a license and all that other stuff you have to do first."

"We can do that right now, with all your connections I'm sure it won't be any problem."

"Your father will kill me."

"He'll be here, as will your mother and daughter."

"Esplanie, Rynny?"

She rolled her eyes at the nicknames. "Oh, they'll be here too."

"How did you manage this?"

"Serioulsy? Just a few texts."

"What about rings?"

She smiled and placed her mouth right up against his ear and whispered, "I already have one for you."

"You do?" His arms circled her as she nestled her chin on his shoulder. She nodded and kissed his neck.

He hugged her tight then pulled back slightly to look at her, "I have yours too."

"What? I already have one." She waggled her ring finger at him.

"That, my dear detective, is an engagement ring; you must have a wedding ring too."

She rolled her eyes, "Well then, I guess we're all set."

"Okay, let's do it." He picked her up and swung her around and she laughed into his shoulder.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Good Grief woman, you need to stop waking me up like that. You're going to be the death of me."

"What a way to go, besides, what's the sense of keeping you around if I can't unleash all my frustrations on you when I get home after a long, hard day at work?" She rolled off him and snuggled into his side, sliding one leg over his.

"Oh, so I've been reduced to a sex toy?"

She chuckled and wrapped her arms around him just a little tighter.

He pulled her closer to him. "I'm not really complaining."

"I didn't figure you were. Considering what the consequences would be."

He ran his hand up and down her back and through her hair, "Are you ready for the big day?"

"Ummmhmmmm. You?"

He sighed and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. "_Very_."

"Good."

"So answer me this, of all the roguishly handsome guys you could have, what was it about me that convinced you that I was your 'one and done'?"

She was surprised by his question and didn't say anything right away.

"I'm not thinking that your silence is a good thing."

She rested her chin atop her forearm on his chest and looked at him, smiling. She leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips. "You have the best kisses." She kissed him again, long and sweet, her hand running through his already disheveled hair. "And you brought me coffee." She kissed him again leaving a trail of soft kisses along his collarbone. "Mostly, because you brought me coffee, because you _always_ brought me coffee. You knew just what I needed. You make me smile." She laid her head back down on his chest and caressed his bare skin. "I thought when I first met you that you were arrogant and only wanted one thing, when you weaseled your way into my life, I was bound and determined not to let you get to me. I saw through your façade though. I saw the gentle, doting father and the caring son. I loved the way you treated your daughter and your mother. I swear you were the first guy to take care of me, which is no small feat considering I don't let people in, but you persevered and you genuinely cared about me, with the respect and dignity my parents would want in a soul mate for me. That I was looking for in my 'one and done." She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly reaching out for his hand and lacing her fingers through his and placing a kiss on his chest. She sighed contentedly.

"Wow."

"Oh, and you're really good in bed."

"Gee, thanks, I think."

"It's important to a girl, you know, that you can keep up."

"Yeah, well I'm not so sure how much longer I'll be able to do that."

"Well we'll have to keep practicing, won't we? I have to get my fill of you before we won't see each other for _ever_."

"It's only one night, and I'm sure you'll survive, Lanie will keep you occupied."

"You just can't wait to get rid of me so you can have your bachelor party at The Old Haunt with lots of near naked girls jumping out of cakes."

"There will be none of that."

"Don't be so sure, remember what Esposito did for Ryan's?"

"Hmmm, you do have a point. Maybe you were right, we should have just eloped."

"See, told ya." She poked him in the chest numerous times making her point known. "Didn't I, didn't I say before this was all over you were going to wish you listened to me and eloped."

"Ouch, Beckett..." He took a hold of her hand to stop her attack on his chest. "Yea, but then we would have had to deal with Lanie and your father."

She sighed and tightened her hand around his.

"So, what do Lanie and Alexis have planned?"

"Just girl stuff, nails, chic flicks, a quiet night in, nothing too crazy since I insisted Alexis join us."

"Good thing my mother already had plans."

Kate chuckled. "Yeah, a very good thing."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

She waited for Lanie and Alexis to finally fall asleep then slipped into an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt and snuck out of the apartment. She took one of the secret passages to The Old Haunt and turned on the fireplace. She opened up a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. She sauntered over to the bookcase and picked out _The Master and Margarita._ She had read it many times, but it was one of her favorites. She curled up on the couch and waited for Rick to come downstairs.

He finally got them all into cabs and told the bartender to head home. He closed up the bar and then not wanting to go home to the empty loft, he decided to hang out in his office and maybe write for awhile. He saw the light on and the glow from the fireplace. As he got closer, he saw her sitting on the couch. She turned and rested her chin on the back of the couch, smiling at him.

"Hey."

He stood against the doorjamb and smiled at her. "Hey, yourself."

"I missed you."

"Yeah?"

"Umhmmm."

"Lanie and Alexis didn't do a very good job keeping tabs on you."

"I didn't think they'd ever fall asleep."

"So you've been planning your escape all evening?"

"I forgot to tell you something before I left."

"What was that? Cold feet?"

She rolled her eyes. "Literally, yes, figuratively, no not at all."

"Well, we'll have to do something about that won't we?"

She smiled at him and nodded. He walked over to where she was sitting and sat down beside her and pulled her onto his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck; he took the blanket off the back of the couch and placed it over them. She nuzzled her face in his shoulder. His hand raked through her silky curls.

"So this thing you forgot to tell me?"

She sighed into his chest and dragged her tongue along his collarbone. "I don't want to sleep alone tonight."

"_That's_ what you forgot to tell me?"

She shook her head and looked at him; she traced a finger along his jaw and placed a light kiss on his lips. She took in a deep breath and kissed him again. She unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and kissed his chest.

He pulled her head back up so he could see her face. He brushed a curl away from her forehead and kissed her lightly on the lips.

She kissed him back and whispered, "I forgot to say 'I love you'."

"And there's that puddle I've been reduced to again."

She giggled as he pulled her down on top of him.

_**A/N: So maybe another chapter or two or three…but I'm not sure when. It seems to take me forever to write something coherent these days. Oh and just an FYI, I will not be writing 'the whole wedding scene' I just can't do all that sappy fluff ;o) There might be a flashback or two…ideas and suggestions are welcome here. Thanks again to all who have reviewed, alerted, favorited, read, and re-read this silly fluff-filled story.**_


	24. Chapter 24

_**Yes, an update :o) A little short but the next chapter is done, just needs some editing. I hope this isn't too confusing. The parts in italics are reflections of their wedding day. Enjoy!**_

_**Characters are not mine.**_

They had eventually ended up at the house in the Hamptons. Rick had been up late writing, the first he'd done since the wedding and Kate had fallen asleep to his fingers tapping on the keys. She had woken up early, went for a run and a swim, and now she sat in the window seat in a pair of old cut off jeans, and a t-shirt with her hair up in a messy bun, she watched him sleep as her thoughts took her back to their wedding day.

The wedding had been exactly what she wanted, something small, short and to the point. No drama and no fanfare. No paparazzi. She sipped her coffee and smiled as she thought about the day she had gone to see her dad and told him the wedding would be in a few days. Jim received her text to keep the day open and knew immediately what she had planned. He had been surprised to see her at his door later that evening…alone.

"_You're sure about this Katie?"_

"_Yeah Dad, I am. He's my one and done, I've known it for awhile now."_

_He smiled and took a deep breath then sat up and patted her on the shoulder. "I'll be right back, I have something for you."_

_She sat in the kitchen sipping on a cup of coffee and nibbling on a Vienna Finger cookie, they had always been his favorite cookies and he still kept them in the old beat up Oreo tin. He walked back in and handed her a thick manila envelope._

"_What's this?"_

"_It's something your mother and I started for you when you were about seven. Do you remember Mom's cousin Debbie's wedding?"_

_Kate scrunched her face up. "Yeah, it was huge."_

"_And very expensive."_

"_But it was beautiful and I remember how much in love they were."_

"_You talked about that wedding forever. With our income, it wasn't likely we'd ever be able to afford something that lavish. However, I wanted you to have that if you wanted it, so we started this little fund. Every week we would put something in it. We promised each other we wouldn't touch it and we wouldn't let you have it until you got married."_

"_Dad, you didn't have to do that."_

"_Are you sure you don't want something like Debbie's wedding?"_

_She smiled. "I'm sure, Dad, none of that is important anymore."_

"_Well, then you can use this for your honeymoon. Or just to have. I know Rick can and will take care of you and share whatever is his, but your mom always had her own little account and I know she would want you to have one too. And I like the idea of paying for your wedding."_

_She opened the envelope and stared at the amount. She looked up at her father. "That's a lot of money."_

"_I know."_

"_Don't you want to use it for your retirement? Save it for a trip? I can't take all this."_

"_I want you to have it; your mother would want you to have it. I have a feeling Rick Castle will take care of my retirement if neither of us can."_

_She choked back tears and reached for his hand. "He would, in a heartbeat." She swallowed and cleared her throat. "That has a lot to do with why I'm marrying him. He really likes you Dad."_

"_Good for him that I'm awfully fond of him too. I was getting worried there for awhile."_

_She shook her head and laughed then stood up and went over to him and gave him a big hug. "Are you okay with me having a small wedding?"_

"_I want to see you marry someone you love Katie, and as long as I get to walk you down the aisle and dance with you then we're all set."_

"_You will, with Mom's flowers and maybe her dress."_

"_Tell me what you need me to do Katie."_

She smiled to herself as she continued to think back on the wedding. She had told Castle she was planning the honeymoon and she even went so far as to help him pack. She hadn't told him where they were going until after the wedding. Her thoughts took her back to the reception at the Old Haunt.

_They were dancing, she was as close to him as she could get. She'd abandoned her shoes, and her dress was dragging on the floor, but she didn't care. She'd been sipping expensive champagne and was wrapped in her husband's arms. She couldn't remember ever being this happy or content._

_He placed a kiss on her temple. "You're not falling asleep on me are you?'_

_She giggled. "Not before our wedding night."_

"_Speaking of which, where are we staying?"_

"_It's a surprise."_

"_Do we need to catch a flight?"_

"_Nope, road trip."_

_He pulled back and took his hand to cup her face. "Um, who's driving?" She had a ridiculous grin on her face and he couldn't help himself, he kissed her and she tasted like raspberries and champagne. The kiss elicited a moan from Kate just as her father walked by. _

"_You two should think about getting a room somewhere."_

_Kate dropped her face onto Rick's chest. "Oh God, Castle please tell me he didn't just say that."_

_Rick chuckled. "We were just discussing that, Sir."_

"_Not a moment too soon either."_

"_Dad….Please."_

_He chuckled, placed a kiss on her cheek, and pulled her away from her husband, wrapping her in his arms and swaying to the music. They had danced to "Daddy's Little Girl" earlier and now she hid her face in his shoulder and he chuckled again at her embarrassment._

"_I'm glad you decided to wear the dress."_

"_Me too."_

"_You look just like her, Katie."_

"_I miss her Dad; I wish she could have been here."_

"_I know, Sweetie, I know." He held her while they finished dancing and when the song was over, he kissed her and handed her back to her husband. "She's all yours, son. Take good care of her."_

_Rick smiled at his father-in-law and shook his hand. "You know I will."_

"_I do know that, Rick."_

_Arm in arm they watched her father say goodbye to the rest of the wedding party and then Rick turned back to his wife whose head was on his shoulder, her eyes closed._

"_Hey there, Sleeping Beauty how about we wrap this up and get going on that honeymoon?"_

_Without opening her eyes, she smiled and said, "I like it when you call me that, it reminds me of the first night we 'didn't sleep together'. Do you remember that?"_

_He chuckled, "Most definitely." He pulled her towards him and she opened her eyes and kissed him again. "Kate it's the middle of the afternoon, you shouldn't be this tired."_

"_Ha, I didn't exactly get much sleep last night, Mr. Castle."_

"_And whose fault is that, Mrs. Castle?"_

_Her eyes got wide at the newness of the name. She grinned and shook her head. "Can I tell you a secret?"_

_He loved tired and tipsy, Kate. "What, without me trying to pull it out of you?"_

"_I used to write 'Mrs. Katherine Castle' in my journals."_

_He laughed heartily and pulled her close. "The closet fangirl finally comes out."_

_She giggled. "Don't tell anyone, okay?"_

"_You're secret is safe with me, Mrs. Katherine Castle."_


	25. Chapter 25

_**Soooo sorry this has taken forever to post. The muse is gone…flown the coop….just plain away. And I can't write for beans without her so this is what you get. No beta…pm me if the grammar is horrendous. You can thank my good friends over at Castletv chat for gently nudging this out of me. **_

_**Characters are not mine :o(**_

_**Italics are flashbacks to the wedding.**_

Kate looked away from the window at the sleeping form in _their_ bed…..their bed. It all seemed so surreal to her. It was hard to believe they would be heading back to the city tomorrow. She gazed back out the window at the ocean view and continued to reminisce about their wedding.

_They had said their goodbyes to everyone, and after making sure his mother had all the arrangements for Alexis to get to California, he and his wife left in the back of the limo._

_He closed the partition and settled back in the seat; Kate scooted over and placed her legs in his lap, which was when he noticed she had bare feet._

"_Kate, where are your shoes?"_

"_Oh, hmmmm." She peeked down at her feet and then leaned back on the seat. "I can't remember, probably the same place I left my stockings and panties." She smiled and winked at him._

"_Please tell me you are joking."_

_She gave him her best sly smile and tugged on the dress to reveal more of her legs._

"_Kate."_

"_Yes, Rick?"_

_He pulled the dress down slightly. "Do you remember where we are going on our honeymoon?"_

"_Yes, this nice gentleman is going to drive us to our hotel."_

"_Are we staying in the city?"_

"_Not telling."_

_He leaned towards her and whispered in her ear, "Keeping secrets from your husband already?" His hands slowly worked their way up her legs._

_She smiled and squirmed away from him. "Hey, Castle….I need to get out of this dress."_

"_Um…Kate, as much as I would like you out of that dress, you should probably wait until we get to the hotel."_

"_I'm uncomfortable Castle, and I'm hungry."_

_It dawned on him that this might be part of her problem. "Kate, what did you have for breakfast?"_

"_Ha, Lanie has less food in her fridge than I do." She tried to reach the back of her dress so she could undo the buttons._

"_So, you _and_ my daughter didn't eat breakfast?"_

"_No, Alexis had pop tarts; I didn't eat because I was nervous." She heaved out a sigh, gave up on the buttons, and started pulling on the neckline. _

_He took her hands in his and kissed them gently. "Really, you were nervous?"_

"_Excited nervous."_

"_Did you have anything to eat at the Old Haunt other than ice cream and champagne?"_

_She scrunched up her face. "I had a few raspberries, but I really need something to eat now."_

"_How much longer until we get to the hotel?"_

"_I need something now, like a Remy's mushroom and cheese burger. And a shake, I really need a shake. "_

"_You want to eat a cheeseburger in that dress?"_

"_I'll take it off." She pulled her hands free and started pulling the dress up from the bottom. _

Rick opened his eyes slowly and turned to see her gazing out the window with a smile on her face. He watched her for a few minutes before she realized he was staring at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Castle don't you get tired of staring at me."

"Never. Ever." He held out his hand for her to join him and she uncurled her legs from the window seat and stood beside the bed. He hooked his finger through the belt loop of her denim shorts and tugged her closer. "These are my favorite shorts."

She chuckled and rolled her eyes. "I bet they are."

"So what was going on in that pretty little head of yours?"

She climbed in beside him, slid her leg between his, and curled into his body; she draped herself across his chest and snuggled in tight. "Just thinking about the wedding."

"Yeah." He nuzzled his face in her neck, and turned her face up to his and kissed her long and sweet. "You taste like sunshine."

"Umhmmmm….." She mumbled in between his kisses.

"You've been swimming."

"I have."

"I missed you."

She poked him in the chest. "You didn't even know I was gone."

"I did. I got cold as soon as you left."

"Really, Castle? It's 85 out already."

"Ocean breeze."

"Ummmmhmmm, you don't feel cold."

He continued to plant soft, sleepy kisses on her nose and eyes "So, what parts of the wedding were you thinking about that put that smile on your face?"

"The look on your face when I walked into Remy's."

"Yeah, so much for the promise to 'obey'."

_He had finally agreed to let the driver take them to Remy's._

"_You'll have to stay in the car Kate or this will be all over page six tomorrow."_

_She undid the bow tie to his tux and pulled at his cummerbund. She leaned in and started to unbutton his shirt with her teeth. _

_He groaned and pulled her head back up. "Are you sure you can't wait until we get to the hotel and we can order room service?" _

_She kissed him and moved onto his lap to straddle him, her dress bunched up around her waist. "Castle, I want a Remy's burger now."_

"_Yeah, I'm thinking that's not all you want right now."_

_She smiled at him. The car stopped and he moved her aside. She pouted and whined, "I want to say 'Hi' to everyone."_

"_You are the one that didn't want this plastered all over the papers. Someone in there will see you in that dress and me in this tux and it will be everywhere before we even get to the hotel." With a wicked grin on his face, he pushed her gently back into her seat and whispered to her, "Stay in the car, Kate."_

_He was in Remy's ready to leave with their order when the door opened and the place went silent. There was Kate, standing in the doorway, her hair still in an updo from the wedding with soft curls framing her face and her wedding dress all bunched up in her arms. He remembered her admission to 'misplacing her undergarments', and dropped the bag of food on the counter and ran to her. As he got closer, he realized that she was not even wearing the dress; she was holding it and appeared to have nothing else on. Just as he got to her, she dropped the dress at his feet. _

_He closed his eyes, and she let out a laugh. She took her hand, dragged her finger up his chest, and chucked his chin, "Castle you can open your eyes." _

_He opened them slowly and she was standing there in a pair of cut off jeans that were oh so short and a pale pink cami top. "Beckett, I think I just had a heart attack, I am sure I do not want to know how you managed to change in the limo." He picked up her dress and she grabbed the food off the counter and waved to the staff who were laughing at the encounter of two their favorite customers. _

She rolled on top of him so she was straddling him, her hands holding his arms out beside him. "You know the word 'obey' was not _supposed_ to be in our vows."

"Yes, but you were so very busy, if I remember correctly, and asked me to just 'pick some traditional vows', so I did as I was told." He pointed to himself and said, "Obeying."

She rolled her eyes again and leaned down to kiss him. He reached up, pulled her hair out of its bun, and watched the curls tumble over his face. He whispered into her ear. "I think, you're wearing too much clothing."

"Yeah? What do you plan to do about it?"

He grazed his fingers along the skin at the edge of her shorts and she sat up straighter, her eyes getting wider. "Oh"

"You like that?" He sat up, leaving her with her legs wrapped around his waist. His hands were on her back under her t-shirt, his mouth tugging gently on her ears when she pulled away slightly and placed her hands on his face.

"Hey."

"Hmmm….hey what?"

"I just wanted to say thanks for the wedding and letting me do it my way."

He chuckled. "Detective, we can always do it your way."

She leaned in and kissed him, slow and sweet, then untangled her body from his and climbed off the bed. She reached for his hand and pulled him gently until he was standing beside the bed.

"I wasn't finished here, where are you taking me?"

"It's our last day here and I want to go back out on the boat."

He tugged her back, "How about it's our last day here, and we stay in bed?"

She rolled her eyes, leaned in, and kissed him. She pulled her shirt off to reveal a little red bikini top, tossed it at him, and sauntered towards the bedroom door.

He stood there staring at her. "How is it that we've been here all this time and I haven't seen you in that yet? And I think I need to see if there are matching bottoms." He reached for her belt loop again.

"Castle. Focus. Clothes. Now." She pulled back quickly and he tumbled forward. She walked out the door and he quickly slipped into a pair of shorts, and grabbed a t-shirt. "Yes, Mam. This is me obeying."

Seconds later, he was in the kitchen watching Kate as she packed the cooler and stopped to pull her hair back up into a messy bun. Her eyes were on his bare chest, his tan bare chest, and his shorts that hung low on his hips. They had walked, swam, and even did some running every day for the last few weeks and he was in excellent shape, not to mention all the physical activity that took place inside…..not only in the bedroom, and bathroom but they had made good use of the kitchen too.

He slid his hand along her waist and whispered into her ear, "Like what you see, Detective?"

She chuckled, rested her forehead on his chin, and slid her hands along his chest and around his waist.

He leaned in, using his teeth he grabbed at the tie to her bikini top, and he pulled. She pushed him back.

"Nice try, Castle. Good things come to those who wait."

"Oh, believe me Kate, don't I know it!" He pulled her back to him, not quite ready to let her go.

"Come on there, Prince Charming; let's go for a boat ride."

"It's hurricane season, silly girl."

She chuckled into his neck and kissed him lightly then whispered into his ear. "Yeah, well hurricane Kate wants to rock your boat, Rick."

He groaned and reached down to pick her up and carried her off to the bedroom. "We'll be doing some bed rocking first Mrs. Castle."

She threw her head back and laughed heartily. He tossed her on the bed and landed on top of her, his hands splayed on either side of her to break his fall. "Now, about those bikini bottoms?"

She traced her fingers along the edge of his shorts and up his back, pulling him down on top of her, and then kissing him desperately, she let out a sound that was half sigh and half moan. "Hmmmmm what about them?"

"I think I need to see them." He rolled onto his side, taking her with him; her legs entwined in his, her hands now in his hair. Her mouth sucking on his neck.

"Really, you just want to _see_ them? Why didn't you say so? I'd be happy to let you _see_ them."

He growled into her neck and she giggled at the sensation. His hand was sliding up her thigh and under her shorts. "Beckett, shut up already and let me take off your damn shorts."

_**A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews, alerts and favorites. :o) I really did have this written when I posted the last chapter. It just needed lots of revising. I have absolutely nothing written for the next chapter. So I'll post when I do :o)**_


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